Couldn't hurt: The Rise and Fall of Edward Hyde
by NightAssassin
Summary: A unique set of circumstances lead to Hyde's climb to power. In the meantime, Sawyer has a secret which Skinner is determined to expose. Complete.
1. Prolouge—The stairwell

**would just like to say that Author's notes will be infrequent in coming and extremely short when they do. **

**I try to remain open to all criticism, and I definitely want to improve my writing. Does the psychology not quite work? Does a conflict in motivation not clash hard enough? Is it flat-out confusing? Do I leave loose ends somewhere? The last one especially worries me, as I never write with an outline, but leave loose ends to improvise or tie up or use later. I had to expand this out thoroughly, and change a lot of the story to fit a set of symptoms better, and I hope I didn't leave anything out or forget anything.**

**I don't know if disclaimers are tradition or an actual legal necessity, but for the** **record, I do not own this fanfiction of a fanfiction.**

*** * ***

PROLOUGE—The stairwell

"Well it couldn't hurt," Sawyer said, staring off into the ocean.

He leaned over a corner of two railings, staring off into the retreating ocean. The Nautilus moved slowly, creating a slight breeze in an otherwise still air. From where Skinner stood, he saw Sawyer outlined in a halo of the sun. The American seemed to be staring directly at the sun, not noticing the damaging effects on his retinas.

"I'm not going to loose what I've learned about shooting with my right hand," Sawyer said, seemed to be explaining. "I'd just be picking up a new skill. What happens if my right hand breaks in battle?"

Pause.

"Alright, I get it already. American. Gotcha."

Pause.

"Well you must know it in theory, at least, even _if_ you're not left-handed yourself."

Skinner slowly leaned out the open door to the top deck, being careful not to make any sound or to brush against his bandaged wounds. He observed Sawyer, alone on deck, but still talking.

Now quite conspicuous with his bandage covering his burns, Skinner normally had to take extra measures to make sure that he had not been seen. Jekyll had scolded him several times for being up and moving at all, but Skinner had been watching the American out of the corner of his eye for days now, and then following him behind his back. Sawyer, once fairly observant, had noticed nothing.

Sawyer was acting erratically, and had been so increasingly since Quatermain's funeral. It was unusual for him to be almost constantly mumbling under his breath, which rapidly ceased when he noticed that anyone else had noticed him. But the strangest thing was that he seemed to be talking to none other than the great old hunter himself.

Everyone coped differently with death— Skinner knew that. So he hadn't mentioned it to anyone, and no one else had noticed. Jekyll and Mina had been too busy with their own grief and inner demons to notice, and Nemo had been busy with his ship, now fixing it up to equip a proper league.

Skinner's silence had become increasingly strained. Sawyer had also been increasingly isolated, and when he hadn't noticed others watching, he had been prone to stopping what he was doing entirely, be it walking, reading, or eating, and starting into space…once lasting about a minute. Skinner didn't carry a watch, but he had counted in his head, trying not to speed up in his own mind in his panic.

Something was wrong with Sawyer.

From below Skinner, Mina started up the stairs, not trying to be silent, but ended up catching Skinner by surprise. It was okay, though, surprise was a good way to drill a point into the head of the stubborn.

"You know you're not supposed to be walking around," Skinner heard from behind him. Just barely leaning outside of the door, Skinner whirled to face the lady doctor. Outside, Sawyer's speech had stopped, and Skinner could practically hear him listening. Skinner realized that he could either admit to having been outside, in which case Sawyer would know that he'd been spying on him, or…

"Jus' on my way up for a breath of fresh air," he managed out. "Ah, Jekyll said it would be a good idea." He could see that Mina did not believe that he would linger and stare out the door before doing so, but it didn't matter if she knew. It mattered that Sawyer didn't catch on.

"Get back to your room, you need to rest," Mina said, not fooled for a moment by his bluff. Sawyer mumbled something, and then listened again. Skinner paused, and then walked back inside, sulking down the stairs.

The stairwell remained empty for a minute. Mina was now outside, staring at the sea. Sawyer did not spare her a second glance, but his speech had stopped. Almost as soon as Skinner was out of the stairwell's sight, Jekyll briskly started up the stairs.

"Mina," Jekyll called, standing just inside the stairwell. "I very much hope that Skinner did not come out here, but have you seen him?"

"Yes, actually, he was. Upon your recommendation, so I had heard." Her face showed a glimmer of a smile. Jekyll forced a smile to conceal his exasperation with Skinner.

"_He wants to die? Let him, then,_" Hyde crowed, bored, from the back of Jekyll's mind. He didn't understand half of Jekyll's medical jargon that was running through his head, but he did know that Jekyll had been chasing Skinner down almost since Skinner had healed enough to walk with relatively little pain. Even before that.

"So, where is he now? He didn't take off his bandages, did he?" Jekyll looked around uselessly for the invisible man.

"Not at all, I sent him back to his room."

"Thank you, Mina."

Jekyll looked over to where Sawyer was standing…still staring into the sun, or at least, into the general direction of it. Jekyll considered saying something to him, but instead nodded again at Mina and went back down the stairs, brushing against a crewman as he headed up. When the crewman reached the deck, he addressed Mina and Sawyer.

"Ship going under water," the crewman managed in broken English. "Must get in ship."

Mina nodded to show understanding, and followed the man down the stairs. Sawyer lingered as though he had not heard him at all.

"No, no practice today. Maybe tomorrow."

Pause.

"We're going under now, though."

Pause.

"Alright. Yeah, that's fine."

Sawyer glanced once more into the sun, and reflected on the approaching island directly ahead, haloed in the sunlight, as he tromped down the stairs.

* * *

**For those of you thoroughly confused as to exactly whose viewpoint I'm speaking from, let me explain. I got the idea of limited omnipotence in the middle of the first chapter. What if the story wasn't told from the view of a character, or focusing on all aspects of important scenes, but from a single location, such as a one act play? Characters come and go, and in certain spaces their every emotion, thought, and motive is stripped bare for the literary world to see. I realized, later, that some thoughts and motivations needed to remain concealed for the sake of the plot, but it was nice as a writer to see into everyone's heads at once.**

**The first chapter is set on the stairwell. One can easily read Skinner's mind as he stands there observing Sawyer, but Sawyer's mind is still a mystery as he stares into the ocean. One catches a glimpse of Mina as she tells Skinner to go back to his room. Skinner goes down, and Mina goes outside, and for a moment, in the middle of the chapter, there is no action, as the stairwell is empty, and nothing is physically happening around it. Then Hyde's mind is clearly visible as Jekyll starts up the stairs, and is even shown reflection and forward thought. And so on. **

**The title of each of the future chapters will be indicative as to in what space the limited omnipotence is seeing. I tried to avoid using the same setting twice, but couldn't avoid it for several chapters. And a few of the locations were placed directly in the head of one of the characters. At this point it is told solely from the character's point of view, and only that character's minds are open to us, as standard third-person POV.**

Also: thank you to Obi's Second Cousin for pointing out technical difficulties…now corrected. That's the last time I go to Yahoo answers for my research.


	2. Chapter 1— The Dinner Table

CHAPTER ONE— The Dinner Table

Nemo entered the room where the others had been waiting for him. He broke off his endless thoughts of direction, currents, and locations that he kept running constantly in his mind so that he could deliver his announcement to the League.

"I do not see the need myself," Nemo said as he sat and started placing food on his plate, "But there are overland supplies on the island we're approaching."

"Well, you know how us land folk are," Skinner said. "Always wanting something besides sea-food."

"Mostly fruits and roots, but some meat if you're fast enough," Nemo continued as though he had not been interrupted. He began addressing Sawyer, the one who had always looked forward most to getting back on land, although Sawyer was currently staring off into space, with his food half-eaten on his plate. "There is a small tribe of savages that resides there," Nemo said, "And I would recommend going in a group of at least two."

"Then perhaps Sawyer and I," Mina said from where she sat. Her face mirrored Sawyer's, of not mentally being there. Harker was, in fact, lost in her own thoughts, only paying the minimum amount of enough attention to get by. She carefully cut her fish into smaller and smaller chunks, but didn't really have the intention or hunger of eating this sort of sustenance.

"'druther stay here," Sawyer mumbled before staring off into space again.

"What?" Jekyll asked, doing a double take.

Skinner realized that this was the first time that the group had noticed anything amiss with Sawyer at all.

"I need to practice shooting," Sawyer mumbled.

"But you shoot fine," Jekyll said.

"I need to shoot better." Sawyer glanced off to the side, and nodded curtly. Skinner recognized it as the same sort of look and nod Jekyll gave when talking to Hyde.

"Jekyll, then, will you accompany me?" Mina asked impatiently.

Jekyll glanced at Skinner, or rather, the bandages around Skinner, and slowly nodded. "Yes."

"We will arrive by 8:00 tonight, but it would be safer to approach the island at daybreak the tomorrow," Nemo said, glancing shrewdly at Sawyer.

"_He realizes,_" Skinner realized. "_Or at least suspects. It's not just me. I'm not the crazy one, he is. Sawyer is._"

His announcement complete, Nemo focused on his food. Mina, sensing that everything important had been said, stood and left, most of her food uneaten. Sawyer, who usually ate heartily and talked much at the dinner table, left in much the same fashion. Nemo left soon after, having eaten little, but at least that was usual for him.

Jekyll wondered if he was the only one who was actually hungry or feeling even slightly social. Even Skinner, the only one to not have left the table, ate little. But like Nemo, that was usual for him. Skinner was conscious about the food that visibly congealed in his stomach, and because he was unable to pull a trench coat over his burns, he simply had stopped eating as much.

Jekyll considered instructing Skinner to eat more, as it promoted the healing process, but decided not to. Really, he had been chastising the invisible man enough to drive him away…and he wanted to remain on friendly terms with him.

The silence between the two grew more and more awkward, and Jekyll, unable to take it any more, eventually stood up to leave.

"Ey, uh, Jekyll, wait up there a second," Rodney managed out.

Jekyll fumbled with his pocket watch as he turned around. "Yes? Are your bandages bothering you? Because I told you that they—"

"It's not that. It's…" Skinner considered how to say it, and then decided to blurt it out. "It's Sawyer. I think som'fin might be wrong with him."

"Wrong? You think he's sick?" Jekyll didn't understand why Skinner would confide in him otherwise.

"I don't know."

"You don't know what's wrong with him?"

"Well, 'ave you noticed that he's been acting strangely lately?"

"Um, strange how?"

"Strange…believes he's talking to some'un in his head strange." Jekyll winced and turned away slightly. "No, I didn't mean…" Rodney tried to recall his words to something that didn't insinuate Jekyll was crazy as well. "He thinks he's talkin' to Quatermain," he managed.

"Quatermain," Jekyll said, looking up.

"Yeah, real crazy. I thought…I dunno what I thought. But 'e's been talking to himself a lot, when no 'un's watching."

"He's probably just coping," Jekyll muttered. "I mean, I'll keep an eye on it from a medical standpoint, but I don't think he's hallucinating." he then left the room.

"'ow would you know?" Skinner asked the empty room. "You 'avn't noticed a bloody thing."

* * *

**A/N: thank you to WithWhoLovesHim for pointing out a typo...and of course to all of my other lovely reviewers. **


	3. Chapter 2—The beach

CHAPTER TWO—The beach

A single man stood on a rock in the dark, watching the approaching mass.

He had assumed at first, as he looked out on the star-speckled ocean with paint-rimmed eyes, that the mass was a whale, a rarity for this time of the season. But as it grew closer and the late moon broke free of the clouds, he recognized it for the man-machine that it was. Foreigners. Invaders. The words didn't matter. It was strange and new, and experience had taught that what was new was often bad. The painted man ran back to the village from which he'd come, already planning on finding those with the best eyesight to keep an eye on the strange mass.

It was nearly daybreak, and the man knew that the smokes that must accompany the sunrise would alert the intruders to the presence of the natives, but it had to be done. And if the intruders were not driven off by the time the sun was up, it was time for the warriors to prepare to attack.

The beach was empty for only an hour before a small raft approached the shore slightly to the left of the rock the man had been standing on. Jekyll stepped into the water to pull the boat ashore, misjudged the distance between his foot and the sand, and nearly fell face-first into the water. Mina could see fine in the dark, and Hyde could too…but Jekyll could not, and his counterpart found more amusement in watching Jekyll trip and stumble than he did warning him about upcoming obstacles.

Jekyll regained his composure, and towed the ship to the shore. Mina stepped out of the boat.

"Mrs. Harker," Jekyll began, "if—"

The wind picked up, and blew the soft-spoken words back into his mouth. Mina's intense concentration on other matters had rendered her entirely deaf to Jekyll's words. Mina stepped out of the boat and immediately began walking towards the forest.

"_Rejected,"_ Hyde muttered. Jekyll had been expecting a comment of a similar nature and simply ignored it.

"Mrs. Harker," Jekyll said, a bit louder as the wind died down. Mina turned around. "If you don't mind me asking," he began again, "you are not usually one for expeditions, so why were you so eager to embark on this trip?

"_At such an ungodly hour,"_ Hyde added. The sun had only just begun to show above the horizon, and Jekyll had only managed to grab a quick, cold breakfast, while Mina had forsaken all food in her impatience.

Mina paused, on the brink of responding that, in fact, she did mind him asking. Instead, she stepped closer to Jekyll and spoke in a quiet voice. "I need blood, and badly," she responded. "I did not want to have to resort to taking some from someone on the ship."

Jekyll tried to figure out if the statement was her confiding to him or threatening him, but Mina was already on the move again. She bristled with power and energy, and Jekyll nervously ascertained that his flask of potion was still on his belt before following her. "_Take some,"_ Hyde said as soon as Jekyll's hand brushed the flask, but Jekyll ignored him. He would not use it…but it was at least nice to know that ungodly power was at hand.

Jekyll jogged to catch up with her. "So…we need fruit and some roots, and some meat if we can—"

"Doctor Jekyll, I beg your pardon, but I really cannot be concerned with such trivial matters at the moment. As Nemo stated, they are indulgent and unnecessary. If I cannot find at least a small animal, I fear what may happen to those around me."

Definitely a threat.

"I apologize for my testiness," Mina continued, "but I must ask for perhaps ten minutes alone to find some prey. If you would wait on the beach, I will return shortly."

"_Ah, she's no fun Henry,"_ Hyde said. "_Don't worry about being alone, I'll keep you safe._"

Mina heard Jekyll's heart skip a beat as his skin paled. "I…we were supposed to stick together," he said, confused. His heart was pounding against his chest; the sound was almost unbearable to her blood-deprived mind. Instead of consoling his obvious fear, she grew impatient.

"You are well protected, Dr. Jekyll, so long as you have Hyde," Mina said, realizing even as she said it that the words would be unwelcome, knew that Jekyll despised Hyde. She plowed on ahead anyways. "And I cannot die. Honestly, they are savages, and you and I perhaps the most powerful beings on the planet." She turned and almost ran away from him, leaving no room for argument. She felt guilty at breaking procedure, but feeling even worse that she had said admitted her weakness at all. She felt her teeth start to grow as she hit the forest.

Jekyll wanted to be angry with her, but could not bring himself to. He considered multiple situations that were adverse, even to an immortal, as he glanced at the forest and scanned the trees for fruit.

"_Capture?" _He thought, having courage only in his mind to speak to Mina harshly. "_What if you're captured, what then Mina?"_

His train of thought simulated what little imagination Hyde had. "_If she's captured?"_ he thought, sounding intrigued. "_Maybe they'll burn her alive. And she'll die over and over. That would most certainly be entertaining."_

"Be quiet," Jekyll said, already exasperated with Hyde…and it was only 6:00. The rest of the day would not go smoothly.

_"Or maybe they'll have their way with her."_

"I mean it."

_"I know I would. Rape her, that is."_

"Hyde!"

Hyde _did_ break off his conversation then, not to laugh at Jekyll or to indulge his pleadings for silence, but because he sensed something.

"_They're lighting fires,"_ Hyde said. "_I can smell the smoke."_

Jekyll did not switch quite as easily into the new conversation, and made a bad mistake in ignoring his darker half. The silhouettes of the branches became more defined as the sun moved closer to the horizon, and Jekyll walked a bit further down the beach until he found a cluster of bananas on a tree. He opened his pack and prepared to take some.

"_They're coming,"_ Hyde said,_ "and all you can think about are your bloody bananas. Get out your damn elixir, they could come through the trees at any moment. They might have torches. Or fire arrows."_

Jekyll paused for just a moment. He could see several pillars of smoke rising over the forest.

"_Do you hear that?"_ Hyde asked. Jekyll did not want to admit it, but the consistency of Hyde's grave warnings and his separation from Mina was starting to get to him.

"Hear what?" Jekyll asked. He tried to sound skeptical, even bored, but his voice revealed a slight tremor. As the sun broke over the horizon, a low humming quite audibly filled the air. It quickly rose in volume until it was a steady buzzing sound.

_"What in God's name—?"_ but Henry's thoughts were cut off as a black cloud rose over the trees. Jekyll first thought was that it was smoke being blown around in the wind, but realized that the drove was alive. "_What…?"_ Jekyll managed to think before the insects were upon him. In his eyes, his ears, his nose. He could only reflect on how ridiculous the situation was…a proper English scientist, about to get eaten alive by mosquitoes!

Hyde was appropriately wary of the savages who might or might not attack, but still found the time to roar with laughter as Jekyll thrashed his arms wildly, fell over backwards, and tried to cover his face and hands.

Jekyll spent the time uselessly realizing that he was in virtually no danger from the island's residents, as they were undoubtedly clustered around the smoke and fire to drive off the masses of the mosquitoes. Hyde, however, worried about the more imminent danger of the insects themselves. He may not have known exactly what sort of danger there was; only that Jekyll had always been wary of them. Something about disease or infection.

"_Into the water, Henry,_" Hyde said after about thirty seconds of Jekyll being mercilessly attacked. Hyde was still amused, but didn't want his counterpart to destroy what body Hyde had. Jekyll could do nothing but agree. He took a deep breath and submerged himself entirely into the ocean.

He closed his eyes and started running through a mental inventory of what was in his pockets. His watch had almost certainly been ruined, and there were probably a couple of scraps of notes that—

He realized how irrelevant this all was as his mind suddenly turned to Mina.

Surfaced for air. The mosquitoes quickly moved to attack him again, and he submerged again, fighting his own buoyancy and struggling to keep under the water with a full breath of air.

Mina was on land, and possibly in a worse situation than he was. He had to find her so that they could flee, maybe return later…what times did mosquitoes come, only at sunrise and sunset? And they carried so many blood-born diseases…

"_Let me out,"_ Hyde said_. "I can get her and go."_

"_I don't think so," _Jekyll retaliated. "_I can manage…"_ His mind started to get foggy.

"_Surface,"_ Hyde growled. Jekyll took another breath of air.

"_Need to find Mina,"_ Jekyll thought decisively.


	4. Chapter 3—Skinner’s room

CHAPTER THREE—Skinner's room

Skinner had faithfully stayed in his room, but he did not rest.

Jekyll had briefly stopped in before he had left, waking Skinner up to change his bandages, and put some sort of cream on Skinner's shoulder before he left. The cream had burned like hell, and Skinner abandoned the idea of going back to sleep, even though the sun wasn't up.

The itching that had started as the more minor wounds healed was bad, and the pain that still shot through his more major injuries was worse, but neither were what set Skinner pacing instead of resting. It was the thought of Sawyer again. Rodney looked at the door, and seriously considered looking for him again. As much as Mina and Jekyll reprimanded him to give his body a chance to rest, Jekyll no longer seemed too worried about infection or permanent damage. And, with both physicians gone…

Skinner cracked the door open slightly. Even as he did so, he remembered that it was still early, and Sawyer was almost definitely asleep, with what hours he was prone to staying up at night. Even as he moved to close the door again, he saw by a fantastic coincidence that Sawyer was immediately outside. He was standing still, staring off into space, but even as Skinner watched, Sawyer started walking again. He did not seem to see the door open, or notice when Skinner slowly closed it. Wrapped up in his own little world, the man was! Once Sawyer passed the room, Skinner planned on slipping out and maybe figuring out what _he_ was doing us so early.

Skinner listened to the approaching footsteps as they moved closer to his door. He waited for them to continue past, and held his breath...

A moment later, the door swooshed open with force (stopping just short of the wall), narrowly missing Skinner. He stepped back as Sawyer stepped in. "You think I haven't noticed you these past couple o' days?" Sawyer demanded. His voice was appropriately quiet for the time of morning, but it was still intense and definitely angry. "Following me around like that, what the hell's the matter with yah?"

Sawyer progressed and Skinner continued stepping backwards, now instinctively covering his burnt arm and torso from Sawyer's rage, but still being careful not to press his charred back against a wall.

"I was just—" Skinner protested, but Sawyer cut him off. Probably a good thing, too, as Skinner really had nothing reasonable to complete his sentence with.

"You were just nothing," Sawyer interrupted. Skinner's second reaction after the initial shock was indignation; why should he be afraid of a teammate, especially one many years younger than himself? He considered responding, but Sawyer paused, and cocked his head, listening to the voice that only he could hear.

His eyes continued to be trained on Skinner for the next five seconds in silence, and the intensity of concentration was such that Skinner abandoned his ideas of responding. He instead replayed the current situation in his head, and realized that the American was speaking with a slight (was it even there?) British accent.

"Wear your clothes when you're out, and that solves half the problem, right Skinner? Stop following me around, well, there's your other half. Are we clear?"

Sawyer's tone had mellowed out, and his accent had returned to American…if it had ever changed at all.

"I can't wear my coat. My shoulders are burnt."

"Bandages, then. And stop sneaking around."

"Sure, sure," Skinner said.

"Good. If I catch you again, we've got a problem." His voice had taken on a slight British accent again.

"I won't follow you around no more."

Sawyer nodded, turned, and left as suddenly as he had come. Skinner, instead of being dissuaded, was now more curious than ever. His gaze followed Sawyer out the door, but the warning glare Sawyer shot through the opening, before swinging the door shut, was so intense that Skinner abandoned the idea of following him.

But what to do now?


	5. Chapter 4—A remote clearing in woods

CHAPTER FOUR—A remote clearing in woods

Jekyll knew that there was very little chance of him finding Mina, but there was at least a reasonable chance of her finding him.

By the time he reached the clearing, his clothes had dried enough from his ocean excursion to stop dripping. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled himself free from the forest, as a mild claustrophobia had set in. The forest's growth was so intertwined that he had barely managed to twist his way through, and dozens of small rips dotted his clothes and the skin underneath. It hadn't helped that all the while, Hyde had insistently been saying that he could just smash through the trees if he was let _out._

Jekyll had not made the transformation. The situation was still such that he might be able to manage it himself…although several of those damn mosquitoes had followed him, or were lurking in the forest. The sheer numbers had slowed as the brush grew thicker, although they were still all over. Hyde, for once, hand not pushed the point for more than a few minutes. He had been quiet, and continued listening. In a way, the prolonged silence was worse than the constant chattering of threats and false promises.

Jekyll's initial idea had been to attempt tracking, something that both Sawyer and Quatermain (when he was alive) had described at length. And it certainly had sounded easy at the time—looking for broken twigs or footprints—but Jekyll quickly realized that Mina left no marks at all. Soon enough, he was hopelessly lost, and he'd started relying more on being found than he relied on his finding his own way out of the situation.

In the clearing, wisps of smoke clung to smoldering embers, all set in a stone ring. A small pile of green wood was stacked beside it. Of course, Jekyll reflected, the mosquito invasion was probably a daily occurrence, something that the natives were adequately prepared for. But whichever native had stoked the fire was nowhere to be seen.

Hyde was weary of this being an attack or set-up, but Jekyll could focus little beyond escape from the mosquitoes. Jekyll threw some of the wood into the fire. It did not immediately begin spilling out smoke, but what smoke was already in the air sufficed to drive away most of them, anyways.

After grimly looking over his ruined clothes and examining his scratched and bitten skin, he glanced around the forest around him, thinking of the daunting task of finding Mina…or continuing to tromp around until she took notice of him.

There was a faint rustling in the forest nearby, and Jekyll swore he caught a glimpse of glowing red before it disappeared. "Mrs. Harker?" he asked uncertainly. He held his flask in his hand, and toyed with the lid. Hyde said nothing, but waited in anticipation, getting ready for a battle.

Jekyll slapped a mosquito on his arm, and it spattered blood across his arm. As if it was some sort of signal, he felt two hands at his back, then he was on the ground, then Mina was over him, her eyes glowing red, her fangs at his neck. It pumped blood furiously. Nonetheless, the vampire hesitated as the human being inside of her suddenly protested violently.

"Mina," Jekyll said to the lady. He'd been fleeing from the smaller bloodsuckers, unwittingly running into the hands of the largest.

"Henry," Mina said after a moment of internal struggle. She stood up and took a step backwards, allowing Jekyll to stand and dust himself off. Most of the dirt clung to his wet clothes. "I'm…I'm sorry," Mina continued, flustered, "I don't know what came over me."

"It's, um, it's quite alright," Jekyll said. After a moment's pause, he added "I understand." Now Jekyll thought of Hyde, of how he had been compelled to perform monstrous deeds against his will.

"I didn't think you would be out here," she added.

Jekyll was about to answer her unspoken question of what he _was_ doing away from the beach, when the wood in the fire suddenly caught. A copious amount of smoke poured out, and Jekyll and Harker were both sent into coughing fits. Even as Jekyll's lungs were wracked, he noticed that the mosquitoes had left entirely. Jekyll threw some more wood on the fire. This was far better than the mosquitoes.

"What are you doing?" Mina demanded.

"All those mosquitoes…they don't like the smoke."

"What mosquitoes?"

"You…they weren't…" Jekyll tried to reconcile in his mind how she could have possibly missed them. Granted, there were fewer in the forest, and she had probably been concentrating on killing small animals…

"No, although it looks like they did get to you." Mina stepped closer to Jekyll, and he tensed in slight fear. Jekyll noted the blood on Mina's teeth and lips, and a smudge on her face, and allowed that she must have already taken blood, and probably would not attack him again.

Mina examined Jekyll's face, neck, and hands, all red and slightly swollen. As she did this, Jekyll examined Mina as the blood inside of her started coursing through her veins, as her face slowly retained a bit of color from the deathly pallor she had wore. Mina started examining the numerous cuts on Jekyll's body, but stopped when she saw how many their were, and how minor they were.

"What happened?" she asked.

"I was attacked by the little—" he stopped himself before saying 'bloodsuckers,' and backtracked. "Attacked by mosquitoes. Jumped into the water to get away from them, and then came for you. I thought you might be having to deal with them, too."

"Dr. Jekyll, when I said that I was low on blood, I meant it. I doubt I would have bled if I'd been cut, and certainly mosquitoes aren't interested in me."

There were a few moments of silence, during which Mina listened for the woods around her for any sort of game nearby. Jekyll's hand crept up to his face and neck and started scratching as the itching set in.

"Do you wish to go back to the ship?" Mina asked.

With a spare thought at the fresh fruit he would be sacrificing, Jekyll slowly nodded. "Yes," Jekyll said. "As soon as they're gone." The several mosquitoes still flew around, some dazed in the smoke, most flying clear of it. Jekyll thought longingly about the anti-itch creams that were back on the ship.

The sun had risen more fully now, and Jekyll could appreciate its rays if he moved away from the fire, especially since the mosquitoes had nearly all left.

"_They're coming,"_ Hyde said suddenly.

The wind carried the sound of a drumbeat, and it gradually drew closer. Mina saw it first: a huge crowd of painted, half-naked savages racing towards them, carrying weapons as primitive as they…but still able to kill. They came from a hill, and as they descended, the front of the mob was obscured by the tree line.

"We might want to go now," Mina said. Henry followed her line of vision, and at first could not make out more than some moving mass through his salt-caked smoke-watery eyes, but eventually saw that the mass was a group of people rapidly moving towards the smoke stack.

His mind was paralyzed.

"_We can fight them!"_ Hyde roared. "_Let me out, I can fight them!"_

_"Run!"_ Jekyll's own mind said. "_Get back to the ship, you can get to a safe distance if you leave _now!" But for the first time that he could remember, Jekyll couldn't make a clear distinction between the two—both seemed like good options.

Mina, too, was torn for a minute, but with a regretful thought at the blood she was sacrificing, she grabbed Jekyll's arm and ran.

Jekyll was up and running, too.

The natives trampled through the clearing a few minutes later, one taking the time to extinguish the smoldering fire.

* * *

**Happy Valentine's day to all of my readers. **


	6. Chapter 5— Hallways aboard the Nautilus

CHAPTER FIVE— Hallways aboard the Nautilus

"You really didn't have to be so harsh," Sawyer said aloud.

"_Yah didn't have to be so soft,"_ Quatermain replied defiantly.

"He's a friend…at least a fellow League member."

A crewman walked by, and Sawyer stopped talking. The sudden clenching of his jaw was now a familiar motion, one which was not entirely his own. While Tom wasn't particularly worried about being caught talking to himself—a fairly harmless crime—Allan was constantly paranoid about it. Constantly on the watch.

"_Listen, yah can't be seen talking to me,"_ Quatermain said, reflecting Sawyer's current thoughts._ "Not just yet, see?"_

"I know that making them think I'm crazy isn't the best way to get anything accomplished—"

"_We'll be on Africa's coast soon."_

"Where you'll be able to talk to me in person. Yeah, we've been over this."

Sawyer's body was physically exhausted, and both the men inside of Sawyer's mind felt the fatigue. When Quatermain first appeared, he and Tom had not been in sync. The first few days they had pretty much taken turns sleeping, and Sawyer's body had been wandering the numerous hallways mostly nonstop. Sawyer stepped into his room to grab his gun.

In another part of the ship, Nemo stepped out into the hallway. Naturally, as captain, Nemo was a busy man, and had no time for idle strolls. This stroll wasn't idle; word had gotten back to him through his crew days ago that "the blonde one" Sawyer had been acting strangely. After a small amount of careful observation and a large amount of thought, Nemo prepared to further, outright investigate. The hall ended in a room, which Nemo continued through.

Sawyer emerged from his room and started walking to the deck; intent on getting the practice that he needed to become a better shooter. His hands itched to pull the trigger, his ears needed to hear that resounding boom.

"No, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter," Sawyer said, continuing what the conversation had segued into.

"_You'd switch your stance entirely,"_ Quatermain replied. "_That's the only way that it would balance out—"_

"I can't shoot left foot forwards!"

"_If you want to learn to shoot with either hand, you'd bloody better learn."_

From another part of the ship, Rodney Skinner bolted from his room and started running. His normal cautious, slow-moving gait had been reluctantly abandoned for a more painful—but faster—sprint. His mind raced faster than his crippled body could, and he cursed that the crew didn't speak English as he tried to find Nemo.

"You already told me you don't know for sure, so—" Sawyer said.

"Sawyer," Nemo said, emerging from a room. Quatermain fell silent inside Tom's head. "Who are you talking to?"

Sawyer considered Nemo's imposing figure, gruff voice, and determined attitude.

Skinner cursed loudly, finding the captain's quarters empty. He quickly started from room to room, searching desperately, wondering how much time he had.

"I was just…talking to myself," Sawyer said innocently.

"Arguing with yourself?" Nemo questioned. He quickly prepared in his mind how to best extract a confession from Sawyer. He allowed the tense silence grow, and when he found appropriate words to continue with, he was cut off as Skinner almost raced past them, doubled back, and started speaking.

"Nemo," Skinner said between deep breaths of air, "Mina and 'enry are back, and they're bein' chased."

As Skinner talked, several of the crew came running in, and not knowing what Skinner was talking about, quickly repeated the message to Nemo in Indian. Nemo nodded, abandoned his exposition of Sawyer, and hurried to the bow of the ship, where he could submerge the submarine as soon as the signal was given.

Sawyer realized that he could not practice today, and he carefully concealed his frustration from Skinner as he headed back to his room to put his gear away. As Tom did so, Quatermain mentally cursed Mina and Henry for being so careless as to attract the attention of the savages that they had known were there.


	7. Chapter 6— The medical room

CHAPTER SIX— The medical room

Jekyll ushered Skinner into the room and pointed, exasperated, to the bed in the center. "What the hell were you thinking?" Jekyll demanded. "Running around the ship? Your wounds were starting to heal."

Both men began attending to their own injuries first. Jekyll deftly removed his own shirt and washed off the worst of his affected areas. He quickly applied an anti-itch cream to his face, arms, and shoulders.

"I was thinkin' about savin' your bloody life," Skinner replied defiantly as he started removing the outer layer of his own bandages, now quite familiar with the routine. "Those painted fellows didn' exactly have bad aim, y'know. If I hadn't seen you from the window, you woulda' been fish food."

Jekyll's brief recount of his adventure after he and Mina had been hauled to the safety of the ship's interior had been cut short when he had noticed that Skinner's bandages were soaked.

Skinner recognized (as he pulled off the last of his pus-soaked bandages, heavy with the only partially-visible fluid) that there was very little reason for Jekyll to be there at all. It would have made far more sense to have Mina treating Skinner, while Jekyll attended to his own grievances. That was human nature for you: habit-driven.

Jekyll removed his shoes (which still squished as he walked) and put on a dry shirt. He washed his hands again, and turned his attention to Skinner.

Jekyll, doing his best to ignore the persistent itching of the mosquito bites, measured out an appropriate amount of bandage, cut it from the roll, and touched Skinner's arms and neck to find his proportions for the hundredth time. After the first loop of bandage had been wound around Skinner's chest, he used that as reference.

Free to stare at close proximity, Skinner glanced Jekyll over. He didn't look his best. His eyes were red and irritated. He was flushed…from the running? From his what seemed like hundreds of mosquito bites dotting his face and neck? From his anger at Skinner?

"You need to stop moving around," Jekyll said as he tied off the end of the bandage. His voice sounded strained. "You could get an infection, or serious permanent scarring…I mean, I know it doesn't matter now, but if you…that is to say…"

Skinner thought at first that Jekyll's lecture had tapered off because he had inadvertently treaded on sensitive ground, but noticed when he looked up that Jekyll's eyes and face had gone blank. Jekyll slowly held a hand out to the wall and leaned heavily against it.

"Jekyll?" Skinner asked, concerned.

"That…that is to say…" he repeated himself. Jekyll's eyes slowly rolled back, and he collapsed, his torso crashing into a small table as he fell and toppled the contents.

"Jekyll!" Skinner said, standing abruptly. "Hang on, I'm going for help!" Skinner didn't even consider the irony of the previous subject matter as he ran out of the room, his wounds immediately sending pain signals to his brain.

"_What's wrong with you?"_ Hyde asked, still conscious, still perfectly awake, sounding totally unconcerned. Jekyll tried to answer, still clinging to consciousness, but all he could mange was a swirl of colors and thoughts. He felt a sudden wave of nausea, and thought he was about to throw up.

Mina and Nemo ran in, and on Mina's instruction, lifted Henry onto the medical bed. Skinner walked in a moment later, slightly bent over at the pain of running. Jekyll instinctively glanced at Skinner's bandages…still appeared clean, although there would be a space of time before anything became visible…

Henry fell unconscious and immediately started having uncomfortable fever dreams.

Hyde watched, from Henry's still open eyes, as Mina insistently ushered Nemo and Skinner out, and then started caring for the good doctor. Mina took the man's temperature. Wincing, she placed a cool towel over his forehead and behind his neck. She placed her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat. Almost instinctively, Hyde had a crude comment to make. When he consigned himself to do no more than say it to himself in Henry's mind, a bizarre thing happened: Henry's lips moved slightly. Jaw twitched. Throat shifted.

Hyde was not an intelligent man, but he could read the connection…and wonder if it was more than coincidence. He tried again.

"_Speech, speech, speech,"_ he thought. Again, faint stirrings in the speech area. "_Say something,_" he thought, strongly willing his voice to break through Jekyll's silence. No speech.

Jekyll slept as Harker tended to him. She noticed that one of the bites on the side of his neck had swollen, and was far more red and puffy than the others.

From the back of Jekyll's mind, Hyde, not normally one for reminiscing, started getting images and memories of a time, not so long ago, when he'd had control. When he'd been able to get out and move, walk around and live his life, for no reason at all save his own will. When Jekyll hadn't been able to block him out through sheer force of mind. Hyde's anger surfaced.

Jekyll awoke and sat up, coughing heavily. Mina filled a glass of water and offered it to him. He accepted it and chugged it. Hyde's strange silence continued, but Jekyll did not linger over that for long.

"What happened?" he asked. "Where's Skinner?" he looked around.

"Gone. Resting. You should be, too."

"Why should I be…" he slumped backwards, supporting himself on his elbows. His chest suddenly hurt, and seemed tight…

Hyde laughed.

"_What have you done?"_ Jekyll asked. But before he got an answer, he suddenly realized that what he felt was a lack of oxygen. The remedy was simple. Jekyll took a breath.

"Are you—" Mina began.

"I'm fine," Jekyll said, sitting up. "Fine. Why should I be resting?"

"You are sick, Dr. Jekyll," Mina said.

"Sick? I'm not…" He inhaled sharply. "Quit it!" he demanded.

"Quit what?" Mina asked.

"Not you. I mean…it's Hyde."

Mina nodded awkwardly and turned to make some more notes on her clipboard. She had already compiled a list of the symptoms that she had noticed, and was cross-referencing them with the diseases that she could think of offhand.

_"You've stopped regulating my breathing,_" Jekyll realized. _"You can't do that. It's an involuntary reflex. How are you…?"_

"_Not a word to the bitch," Hyde_ warned,_ "or I'll stop it entirely."_

"Mina—"

She turned to the beckon, but as she did so, the vampire became aware of a change. What had changed? It took her a moment to realize that his heart had stopped beating. Jekyll slumped over backwards, and his heart started pounding nearly three times normal speed.

Jekyll's eyes widened as he reached into his pocket, and pulled out his watch. He flipped it open, noticed that the water had ruined it. His eyes darted around the room, eventually settling on a clock. He stared at it, and as he did so, his heart slowed, eventually matching the second hand, one for one. Dangerously slow, but it was the best he could do.

"_You bastard!"_ Henry thought. Hyde, however, was gleeful. _"Start regulating my heart, or I'll—"_

_"You'll what, Henry?"_

Jekyll became aware that Mina was speaking rapidly, but most of his attention was watching the watch, and keeping his heart in time with the second hand. What was left of his attention was devoted to Hyde.

"_I'll never let you out again,"_ he finished lamely.

_"Really?"_ Hyde seemed amused. He turned control of Jekyll's stomach over to him, too. Jekyll struggled, controlling his breathing (inhale three seconds exhale six seconds every six seconds), his heart (one beat per second, in and out), and now trying again to keep his stomach down. Something he'd done triggered his nausea again. These were functions that shouldn't be consciously controlled.

Jekyll realized that there was only one way out. He cut off his breathing, only keeping his heart going and his stomach down. He slowly lay back and tried to keep the beat of his heart best he could. It grew increasingly difficult as oxygen flow stopped.

"_What are you doing?"_ Hyde demanded, not expecting this turn of events.

_"You wouldn't let anything happen to my body, would you? After all, it is yours too."_

He could only vaguely feel Mina checking his heartbeat, and when she heard that his breathing had stopped, she quickly locked her lips around his and began breathing into him, her breath vaguely tasting of copper.

Damn that woman! Always knew what to do in a medical emergency. Jekyll gambled the last card he had by allowing his heart to stop. Before Mina could react, Hyde started regulating his unconscious functions again. Jekyll sat up.

"Jekyll, what the hell just… was it Hyde again?"

Jekyll opened his mouth to answer, but found his jaw locked. Hyde was blocking his speech! Jekyll realized after a moment that the block was not particularly strong, but the surprise that it was even there was enough to stop his speech a moment longer.

"_One word about me to her and you will be in the same position you were in a minute ago,"_ Hyde said.

Jekyll considered, although his mind felt somewhat foggy, and it was difficult to think. He did not want to give in to his dark side, but he didn't want to be in pain again. But did it matter if Mina knew? She could do nothing either way.

"Jekyll—" Mina started insistently after a moment of silence.

"No, it was not," Jekyll said. "It was not. It's the sickness. Whatever it is." Jekyll realized that what control he'd had over Hyde, what was in the new formula, was disappearing. Maybe it would get better on its own…probably not. This sickness, whatever he had, had to be cured.


	8. Chapter 7— Tom Sawyer

CHAPTER SEVEN—Tom Sawyer

"_Frankly, how stupid could the two have been?"_ Quatermain asked. "_They knew about the savages, but they went to their island and didn't do a damn thing for up on half an hour, and then come running back to the ship trailing the lot behind them?"_

"I know you're disappointed," Sawyer responded, starting blankly at the ceiling from his bed. "I am too. I wanted to practice. But we're underwater now, and really, I can't risk shooting out one of the windows. Or a wall. Or a person."

"_Never did like that Jekyll fellow. Always seemed a bit useless."_

"Hey, that's not fair. If it weren't for him, that other guy Hyde would be out all the time."

"_You need to practice shooting."_

"You're changing the subject. Besides, we can't on the ship."

_"We're not on the ship, lad. We're in Africa ."_

The blue-ish ceiling deepened in color until it had morphed into a clear sky, and the bed at his back turned into grass-laid ground. Sawyer stood up in the warmth of the Serengeti, a smile breaking across his face. He felt a nudge at his arm, and turned to see Quatermain, carrying two guns.

"There yah are," Quatermain said, handing him one of them. "Let's go elephant hunting."

"Good to see you," Sawyer said.

"See that one over there?" Quatermain asked. Sawyer was about to reply no…that there was nothing for miles across the rolling dried grassland, but he saw it. He hadn't missed it; it just hadn't been there a minute ago. So he nodded.

"You're not going to be crossing over if you want to shoot with your left hand. You're going to be changed over entirely in your stance." Quatermain had been strictly right-handed in his life, but in death, he was a leftie, too, and shot down the elephant with ease.

The elephant hit the ground soundlessly. It decomposed into a pile of dirt in an instant, and blew away. Sawyer found it difficult to get used to the unreality…even though this was just a dream.

"My turn, then, right?" he said. Another elephant walked across the grass, and stopped a couple hundred yards away from the pair.

"I doubt elephant hunting was really this easy," Sawyer said. He changed stances and tried his best to level the gun. He stayed poised for nearly two minutes, trying to familiarize himself in the unfamiliar pose and stance, until he felt sure in his mind that he could get it.

Shot. Miss. The elephant calmly looked up, then went back to grazing.

"To be expected, certainly," Quatermain commented, "But you're going to have to try harder than that."

Sawyer leveled the gun again, and held it twice as long. He felt suddenly sure, absolutely certain, that this one would hit.

"Sawyer!" was called. Not from Quatermain, but from a familiar accent some million miles away…

"Sawyer, I thought you were done for," Skinner said from the doorway as Sawyer slowly sat up in bed. "Bad enough in the state Jekyll's in, thought for sure we'd have two patients."

"Jekyll?" Sawyer asked. He could feel Quatermain's indignation at being interrupted during target practice, especially by the invisible thief, but Tom tried to get on top of the situation as soon as he could.

"No, this is Rodney."

"I know that. I mean, Jekyll's in trouble?"

"Yeah, Mina needs your help in the medical room."

"Why my help?"

"Something about me not bein' fit to tend to patients." Sawyer noticed that Skinner was not wearing a trench coat, and his wounds had started oozing again, the ooze clearly visible through the bandages. "And Nemo's busy with the ship. That leaves you."

"And the crew?"

"Don' understand a word we're sayin'. Besides, I'm not sure Mina trusts them, anyways."

Skinner left Sawyer's room, and the American stood up and followed him, tossing his mussed hair out of his eyes.

"_Ask him if he's been spying on anyone lately."_ Quatermain said contemptuously.

"Oh, shut up," Sawyer mumbled aloud. Ahead of him, he got the impression of Skinner pausing and turning to look at him, but he couldn't be sure. Sawyer doubted that Skinner's surprise was attributed to surprise at Sawyer talking to the voice in his head, but that Sawyer was doing it so openly.

"_I told yah you shouldn't_–_"_ Quatermain began.

"He already knows," Sawyer pointed out. This time Skinner did not look around, but seemed to walk faster.

They arrived in the medical room. Jekyll was completely unmoving, although he was covered in blankets and sweating profusely.

"Thank you Mr. Skinner," Mina said. Sawyer noticed that she didn't seem to be doing very well herself. Her hair had been thrust into a bun, but seemed to be falling apart. She looked as though she had been doing a lot of running around in a short period of time. She still looked beautiful.

"_Now's not the time for bein' sentimental,"_ Quatermain admonished. "_You're here on duty, and yah need to get back to practice as soon as yah can."_

"Sawyer," Mina interrupted, "thank you for coming."

"Sure," Tom said hesitantly. "What do you need?"

"Well…for the sake of Dr. Jekyll's health he needs a full-body exam done, and for the sake of his modesty and because he is unable to do so himself…I need you to perform it for him."

"I'm sorry, a…what?"

"Full-body exam. You need to take off his clothes—"

"What!"

"—and search for any sort of irregularities on his body, such as broken bones, sores or cysts And if nothing's wrong, take some of these damp towels to clean him up a bit, then dress him again. I had some fresh clothes laid out."

"Wait wait wait, this body-exam thing, what if he…well…wakes up?"

"He won't. He's been given a dose of chloroform due to a series of psychological-based symptoms. He probably wont wake up until late tomorrow—"

"Probably!"

"_Quit bein' a baby and just do it,"_ Quatermain said exasperatedly.

"Mr. Sawyer, really, I don't have much time, could you please just do this? He is _not_ going to wake up."

"I don't know how," he said, trying now to appeal to reason.

"It's simple," Mina replied as she started gathering up some disinfectant creams and fresh bandages, placing them into a basket. "Check for lumps or bruises, anything discolored or displaced, anything swollen or soft, breaks or ruptures. I've already checked over his arms, hands, feet, head, and neck, I just need you to check the general bodily area—chest, stomach, genitals, and legs. Then turn him on his side to check his back and legs."

Sawyer nodded, and took a deep breath. "Okay."

"Also, be sure to check under his arms, on his back, and, well, anything else that is not immediately visible, and I do mean anything."

Tom and Rodney both shifted uncomfortably at the implication—Rodney in sympathy, Sawyer in slight dread.

"Be sure to palpate the skin—"

"Palpate?"

"Touch, make sure nothing's harder or softer than normal."

"_Bad choice of words,"_ Sawyer thought as he grimaced in his mind. "_This is creepy…I don't want to have him wake up with me over his naked body…"_

_"He's not going to wake up," _Allan admonished_. "And even if he did, he's a doctor. He'd know what you were doing."_

"What if I find something?" Sawyer asked.

"You'll probably find nothing," Mina said. "but if you do then tell me about it. I will be in Skinner's room down the hall." She picked up the basket and ushered Skinner out the door. "Oh, and keep it fast," she said, her hand on the doorknob. "He can't be exposed to outside temperatures for too long." She closed the door behind her. Sawyer slowly turned to face Jekyll.

He was still lying completely still. Sawyer stripped off the blankets, and saw that Jekyll's skin was flushed, and gleamed with sweat.

"This is ridiculous," Sawyer said as he set the blankets on the floor at the end of the bed. "He's _how_ much older than I am?"

"_Irrelevant," _Quatermain said tiredly.

"This is so wrong," Sawyer mumbled, starting on the top half of the clothing by unbuttoning Jekyll's vest. He worked in silence, occasionally getting caught up in the intricacy of the design.

"He wears a lot of clothes for someone who is prepared to have them ripped open in case of a battle," Sawyer observed. Quatermain seemed to be bored—daydreaming or sleeping. The latter seemed most likely, as Quatermain had been awake for quite a while now.

Sawyer, unsure of what to do with the clothes, threw them on the ground, thinking he would do something with them later.

Henry Jekyll now lay on the medical table, his layers of shirts stripped off, his hair still mussed with dirt and sweat, and his skin flushed and glistening. Sawyer took a washrag and cleaned off his forehead…his face…his neck.

"Palpate the skin, look for irregularities…" Sawyer was no longer talking to Quatermain, who was almost certainly asleep, but to himself out of the habit he'd been growing into of talking to himself. Trying to remind himself that this was scientific and medical.

He moved his hands down Jekyll's chest, feeling for cracked ribs or something…nothing. His hands came back sweaty. Sawyer shook his head and grabbed another one of the damp clothes, wiping off first his hand, and then Jekyll's chest. The man was wiry, but not malnourished. He had scars, but nothing that looked lethal or recent.

Sawyer checked under Jekyll's arms (thoroughly cleaning out his armpits with the washrag), and saw that his ribs were actually visible. His hip bones, above the pant line, showed a bit, too.

He turned Jekyll on his side, and ran his hands, and then a washrag, over his back and neck. Nothing irregular, save a few mosquito bites high on his back. But even that was regular, as most of his face and neck were a mass of bites. He looked like a smallpox victim.

Upper body was clean…and now the part Sawyer was dreading. He took a deep breath, and then set to work. He removed Jekyll's socks, and fumbled with his belt, which the potion bottle seemed to be locked to.

"What the hell, Jekyll, how do you get your pants off?"

Jekyll, instead of answering the question, remained unconscious.

Sawyer slid the belt through the strap on the bottle, and managed to get it out. Not pausing to consider, Sawyer turned out the buttons to Jekyll's pants, grabbed all of the cloth at the waistline, and pulled everything down at once.

Trying still to remain science-minded instead of thinking about what his schoolmates, years ago, had said about man-lovers, Tom continued examining Jekyll from his waistline down to his feet.

Finished, Sawyer looked up again, and Jekyll's eyes—

Jekyll's eyes were open! Sawyer inhaled sharply and backed up sharply, blushing furiously, trying to organize his thoughts.

"Henry…I—I—I—"

"_Quit blathering like an idiot, son," _Quatermain said authoritatively.. "_He's not awake."_

_"His eyes!"_

_"He's not awake."_

Sawyer looked again. Jekyll wasn't moving. He slowly stepped forward, trying to calm his pounding heart, and closed Jekyll's eyelids. They stayed closed.

"What the hell," Sawyer said. "What the hell."

"_Calm down,"_ Quatermain said.

Sawyer grabbed the clean clothes and started dressing the older man. Underwear. Pants. Socks. At least he was decent now.

"Holly shit did his hand just move?" Sawyer hissed under his breath.

"_I don't know. Probably not."_

Tom quickly finished dressing Jekyll, looked him over to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything, and moved to replace the blankets. He noticed, though, that most of the blankets that had been closest to Jekyll were drenched in sweat. Sawyer replaced the clean ones, and closed the door to the medical room behind him. He left for Skinner's room.

Sawyer was nervous from the previous encounter, and hardly paid attention to anything going on around him. So when Quatermain said "_Wait," _in his head just as Sawyer was about to knock on the door, he stopped moving and froze.

"_Listen. They're talking about yah."_

_"Hypocrite,"_ Sawyer said to the man who had insisted Skinner be reprehended for spying, but relaxed slightly and listened anyways.

"Listen, he admitted it to me!" Skinner said.

"Sit down," Mina said. Her voice was far calmer and less audible. "From what you told me, it seems that he's engaging a perfectly healthy coping mechanism."

"He's been spacing out, talking to a dead guy, and threatening me! Does that sound like the Sawyer you know?"

Sawyer, outside, clenched his fists. Why couldn't the little snoop just keep a damn secret? It took him a moment to realize that the rage he felt originated from Quatermain.

"I don't know of many people who wouldn't threaten you if they found out you'd been spying on them," Mina replied. "In fact, I'm pretty sure most of the League has threatened you at some point or another."

"That's not the point."

"Oh? Then what is the point?"

"I jus' think that maybe you shouldn't'a left him alone with someone who—"

Sawyer knocked on the door, and there was a moment of guilty silence, as though they both knew who was out there.

"Come in," Mina said.

"I'm finished," Sawyer said. He tried to keep himself as sane-sounding and down-to-earth as he could. "There wasn't anything irregular…just some more mosquito bites and a couple of scars."

"Thank you, Sawyer," Mina said from where she sat on the edge of Skinner's bed, some bandages still in hand. Sawyer smiled and mock-saluted, before turning and leaving.

"_Time for practice?"_ Quatermain urged.

"Time for practice," Sawyer said.


	9. Chapter 8— The bathroom

CHAPTER EIGHT—The Bathroom (adjacent to the medical room)

Jekyll's eyes drifted open. He glanced at the window, which showed a small amount of red sunset light through the seawater. He pulled himself up onto his elbows, still lying down, and glanced at his own body, as though surprised to find himself dressed in different clothes than he had on before.

He held his head and sat up fully, glanced in the mirror at his alter ego.

"What happened to you?" he asked. Paused.

"No." Pause.

"No!" Panic. Henry moved jerkily towards the doorway, and then turned to grab the doorframe of the bathroom. He forced himself from moving…or rather, from Hyde moving him.

Now glancing in the bathroom mirror, he saw Hyde, somewhat shrunk, more hair…resembling how he'd been when the potion had first been created. Not there yet, but getting there. Thoughts and suspicions whizzed through Jekyll's brain. Hyde's previously monstrous stature had been accompanied by a sharp decline of the conniving intelligence that had once characterized his darker half. So, if Hyde's physical appearance was growing smaller…it could mean a return of Hyde, as he had been before, manipulative and conniving instead of brute nature.

Hyde in the mirror cocked his head slightly, appeared to be concentrating. Jekyll's hand rose in a fist, as his eyes watched its progression. The fist then fell, colliding sharply with Jekyll's face. Hyde laughed.

"Stop!" Jekyll tried to yell, but he felt his throat close up as it had many times before. He moved his hands to grip the sides of the doorway, felt his grip weakening, and renewed it. His head pounded and he still felt nauseous.

"_Now for the formula, Henry,"_ Hyde said.

Jekyll's body turned to the doorway that led out. He took a slow step. Struggling with his body, Jekyll turned back to the bathroom and threw up in the toilet.

He stood up, more naturally, flushed the vomit away.

"No, don't like that, do you?" he asked as he glared into the mirror. His body was still wracked with convulsions, but they were now fever-induced instead of physical stress.

Trembling, he washed his face and brushed his teeth (someone had moved several of his personal possessions to the room). He threw away his toothbrush.

"What did you do to me?" Jekyll asked the mirror.

_"Me? Not a thing."_

"No, you didn't, did you?" Jekyll's hand crept up to his neck, and touched his multiple mosquito bites, wincing when his hand stumbled across the one that was particularly red and swollen. He turned and stumbled back into the medical room. "I'm sick. And if it's an infection, I could be dying. _We_ could be dying. Yes, you too. I need rest, and I need for you to back off."

Pause.

"What am I going to do about it? I'm going to do what I've always done. Fight you with every fiber of my being. But logically speaking…"

Jekyll's left hand slowly, unbidden, moved up to Jekyll's neck. Jekyll restrained it with his right hand.

"For your own sake," Jekyll pleaded, "If not mine."

Both hands relaxed.

Jekyll looked up at the mirror across the room to gauge Hyde's expression, to see if he was heeding Henry's warning at all. But Hyde was nowhere to be seen.

"Edward?" Henry asked, confused. He saw nothing in the mirror but his own reflection. He looked into the bathroom mirror, still visible from the open door. Still himself, reflected from a different angle.

Jekyll walked back into the bathroom, deciding to take the sparse opportunity to look himself over in the mirror. He frowned at the mosquito-bitten, tired-looking man who looked back at him. The area right below his eye had already started bruising. Deciding that he didn't want to look at himself much anyways, he returned to his bed and looked towards the wall instead.

"I'm glad you're listening to common sense for once, Edward," Jekyll said somewhat dubiously. He lay down, and went to sleep.


	10. Chapter 9—Rodney Skinner

CHAPTER NINE—Rodney Skinner

"_I feel like a bloody mummy,"_ Skinner thought to himself.

Trying to ignore the pain and itching was painful in itself, and no amount of bandages or painkillers seemed to help. Contributing further to the sense of being undead, he had been ordered to stay in his bed and to try and rest as much as possible. Skinner had always been restless, and couldn't help but giving in to the urge to get up and pace.

Focusing on Sawyer kept his mind off of the physical pain, but deepened his obsession. Neither of the doctors believed him about Sawyer. Okay, so what about Nemo? Would it do any good to talk to him? Certainly couldn't hurt to get the captain on his side. Or maybe talking to Sawyer himself would help. Then again, if he believed that Quatermain was talking to him, he might attack him again, which was definitely unprogressive. But on the up side, talking to Sawyer was most direct…and Skinner suspected that Sawyer knew, at this point, that Skinner had told Mina about his concerns.

Deciding to follow this course of action, he started down the hall (feeling a twinge of guilt at not staying on bed rest, but knowing that he wouldn't be caught), reassuring himself as he went that this was a good idea.

"_He's not going to beat you up or anything,"_ Skinner thought. "_You're wounded. Besides, Sawyer wouldn't…do that. Or let him do that, if that's the case. This is far better than sneaking around behind his back. Figure this out, and just—"_

His train of thought ended abruptly as he reached Sawyer's door, which suddenly seemed incredibly imposing for a plank of wood. Inside, there was no sound. No rustling, no pacing, no writing. Maybe he'd arrived on an empty room, which was hardly unlikely given Sawyer's habit of relentlessly pacing the hallways.

He knocked, confident and secretly pleased that no one was there. He didn't wait long before he nodded, not expecting an answer, and started walking away.

"Yes?" Sawyer said from inside, sounding sleepy and disgruntled.

"_Shit, did I wake him up?"_ Skinner thought. But that was ridiculous…it was only 8:00! He toyed with the idea of running off…could he get away fast enough? Damn his visible bandages!

The door opened too quickly for one who had just been in bed, and Sawyer stood in the doorway. His voice and posture looked tired, as though he really had been sleeping, but his eyes showed a decided sharpness.

"What do you want?" Sawyer asked.

"I just…I jus' wanted to talk."

"I'm quite busy now, so unless—"

"Tom, why the 'ell are you talkin' in a British accent?"

Sawyer looked trapped for a second, as if thinking rapidly. Then, as a decision was reached: "Tom's not here. He's in Africa. He's practicing shooting. We dun have time to talk." He started to close the door. Skinner caught it and stepped into the room.

"What the 'ell is wrong with you?" he asked. "Wot's going on?"

The look on Sawyer's face suggested that he ("he" being Allan or Tom, Skinner wasn't sure) would like to hurt Skinner, or remove him by force. But, as Skinner had predicted, the vulnerability of his condition acted as a barrier instead of a weakness.

"I told you all that Africa wouldn't let me die," Quatermain said. "I meant it. I'm alive."

"You…think yor Quatermain?" Skinner asked.

"Yes."

"What didja do with Sawyer?"

"He's in Africa now. Shooting."

"Wot, like you just picked him up and—"

"Obviously not. His body's still here. He's in my mind."

Skinner thought this over for a slow minute as Sawyer continued to glare. He was hearing voices in his head? What was going on? "Let me talk to Tom," Skinner said finally.

"He's working now."

Skinner slowly backed to the door. The detached tone that Sawyer sounded exactly like Quatermain's tone. Skinner realized that he wasn't going to get anywhere or learn anything more, and decided to take his leave.

"Okay, well then, I guess I can talk to him later," Skinner mumbled, and left the room quickly, almost running down the hall, ignoring the pain until he felt sufficiently far away to slow down. It was crazy, but he could almost feel the chilling glare, through the wall, following him as he walked. The further away Skinner got from the room, the more clearheaded he felt.

What to do, then, if Quatermain had taken Sawyer hostage in his own mind, or if Sawyer had simply gone crazy? Jekyll was sick and couldn't watch him, and Mina had dismissed Skinner's suspicions outright. It was time to talk to Nemo, who had his crew, who possibly had also noticed something was amiss with Sawyer. Maybe if he had someone besides himself…

But why had Sawyer admitted everything to him, then, if he was trying to keep it a secret? Sawyer did a good job of covering it up when he was around people, but he had never warned Skinner not to say anything, and had admitted all of his irrational beliefs to him. Was he unconcerned about people believing him, even if he did talk? Did he maybe even want him to spread the news?

"_Time to talk to Nemo,"_ Skinner thought.

* * *

**I do apologize for the late update and slight disarray of the chapter, as I was on vacation and did not have adequate access to a computer until today.**


	11. Chapter 10—Top Deck

CHAPTER TEN—Top deck

It was the early hours of the morning, and the Nautilus broke through the crashing waves to surface. As though someone had been waiting, the door to the top deck swung open as soon as the water finished spilling back into the ocean.

Hyde strolled on the top deck, having narrowly avoiding notice by three of the early-shift crewmembers to get there. He had stopped Jekyll's fever and headache, and his better half had plunged into a deep sleep.

Hyde had taken control of Jekyll's sleeping body without making the transformation between appearances. He had considered going to Jekyll's room and acquiring a bottle of potion, considered running free, but eventually decided to explore what power he had in this new form. And perhaps it was more important to intimidate Jekyll than it was to get out…this time. It looked just like Dr. Henry Jekyll was taking a stroll, and it would stay that way so long as he remained asleep. The only thing betraying that something was wrong was his appearance: mussed hair, inappropriately light clothes for the tearing wind, and no shoes. Storm clouds loomed ominously above.

Hyde had moved quietly and smoothly to avoid waking Jekyll up, but leaped over the rail quickly. The motion did not immediately wake Jekyll, so Hyde tore him out of sleep manually. Hyde held the railing and leaned over the water tossing below. Jekyll struggled to make sense of the precarious situation, and when he realized where he was, he froze.

"_If you fight for control or try and say anything out loud, I will drop you into the ocean,"_ Hyde said.

"_Edward, what are you doing?"_ Jekyll asked. The wind gusted, and although both men noticed the coldness, Hyde kept his grip and body rock-steady. The body was already weary from the fever-shivering Jekyll had been doing.

"_I'd like to have a little discussion,"_ Hyde answered. "_Just a talk amongst friends."_

_"Edward, if I die, you die."_

_"No, that's not what I wanted to talk about. I hoped that we could talk about you. You've been increasingly insubordinate lately."_

_"Insubordinate…who the hell are you to tell me that I'm being insubordinate?"_ Jekyll demanded, feeling strangely self-righteous for the position he was in.

"_The man who is about to kill you if you don't listen to me,"_ Hyde snarled.

Jekyll tried to slowly take control of his right hand. Hyde, in response, let go of the railing with his right hand. Jekyll panicked, shouting in his head as his body swung forward, now held only by one hand, and braced up by one foot. He forced himself to calm down and back off as Hyde continued to hold the railing with only one hand, leaning out even further over the ocean.

"_I want to get a few things clear,"_ Hyde said.

"_Edward, please, grab the railing."_

_"I want you to stop fighting me."_

_"Please…please…"_

_"I'm getting control, you are loosing control."_

_"Grab the damn railing!"_

Hyde slackened his grip slightly, and continued doing so until Jekyll panicked again before tightening it.

"_You are not to disobey a direct order,"_ Hyde said. "_You will not let on that I am in control, and you will not resist me when I take your voice or body."_

_"How are you doing this?"_

_"Are we in agreement to my terms?"_

_"Stop this or—"_

_"ARE we in agreement?"_

_"…yes."_

Hyde grabbed the railing with both hands now, still looking out over the water.

"_If you try for control at a critical juncture, then I will wait until you are asleep and throw you into the ocean."_

_"For God's sake, Edward, we don't have different bloodstreams. Just because you aren't feeling any of this doesn't mean that you aren't sick too." _

Instead of a rational response, Jekyll felt Hyde lessening his grip again.

"_Damn you Edward, grab the railing!"_

_"Do you believe me?"_

_"Yes, yes I believe you!"_

_"About what?"_

_"I believe you will kill me!" _Jekyll realized with despair that he only held on by the tips of his fingers. "_I won't fight you!"_

Solid grip again.

A crewman walked on deck to complete his morning rounds, and immediately noticed Jekyll over the railing, leaning forwards. The crewman's first thought was that he was about to fall, and he took two running steps forward…and then realized it as the classic ship-suicide position. He stopped, turned, and ran back down the stairwell, trying to remember exactly where Nemo was at the moment, or any of the man's other friends.

"_Hear that?"_ Jekyll asked. "_They're coming."_

_"Is that supposed to bother me?"_ Hyde asked.

There was a minute of awkward silence, during which Hyde held onto the railing, and said nothing. Jekyll's mind was a whirl of thoughts as he tried to figure out what to do or say. He realized that Hyde would not, _could not_ throw him into the water…but even being in the position of hanging over the railing was dangerous. A slip could easily occur. But what could he do? He thought he could maybe wrest his control back, but certainly not here, not leaning over the back of a ship.

Several of the mosquito bites on his face itched, but Hyde made no move to scratch it. Jekyll tried to think of something—anything—to get his mind off of it. He found his mind unexpectedly wandering to about how hungry he was…he had only eaten a meager breakfast and a scant dinner yesterday, but really had not been hungry, had lacked the willpower and desire to eat…he then suddenly realized that all of his symptoms—the nausea, fever, headache, cough—had all gone.

"_They're gone because I want them to be,"_ Hyde said, letting each of them come back.

"_There was no reason for you to do that,"_ Jekyll protested. He no longer had a body to shiver, but he felt the cold heat strongly in his mind.

"_You do not question me,"_ Hyde instructed. Jekyll, seeing again the ocean below him (had the waves grown larger?), fell silent. He was finding it hard to think, and it didn't help that Hyde kept his gaze fixed on the choppy waters below. It was cold.

Tom burst through the door, only knowing that a crewman had been babbling incoherently at him…and something about Jekyll. He had been almost shoved up the stairs before the crewman had raced off. Not quite sure what was happening, only that it was urgent, he went up the stairs, and found what the crewman had been talking about.

"Jekyll?" Tom asked. His voice was quiet, but Hyde's ears were keen.

"Don't come any closer!" Hyde yelled in Jekyll's voice. "I'll jump!"

"_He sounds exactly like me,"_ Jekyll realized with despair.

"Jekyll, whatever it is, can—"

"I know what you did to me!"

"_What did he—"_ Jekyll began, curious in spite of himself.

_"Shut up or I'll kill you,"_ Hyde said. Taken aback, Jekyll shut up and watched the events play out.

"What are you—" Sawyer began.

"Don't come any closer!" Hyde shouted. He tried to model his voice from Jekyll's weakest: the self-pity and despair that he'd become so familiar and disgusted with. He turned around, now facing the deck instead of the ocean.

Sawyer stopped the slow walk he'd been taking, and hoped earnestly that someone else could come up here and help him take care of this. "You don't have to do this," he said. Tom stood about fifteen feet away from the railing.

"I know what you did to me," Hyde said. "When you thought I was unconscious…how _fucking_ dare you…"

Had Jekyll known what Hyde was talking about, he would have been shocked at the sophisticated psychological tactics that he was employing. Taking Sawyer's obvious shame and turning it against him was not the sort of manipulation that the post-England Hyde was capable of.

"It…Mina told me to do it for medicinal purposes! That's no reason for you to jump off the bloody ship!"

"You _really_ think that's what this is about?"

"Well, I…honestly…I really don't..."

It started raining. Hyde looked up, as feigning extreme surprise for the minor event to cover for his pause. He quickly wracked his mind to figure out what reason one might have for being suicidal. His own mind completely mystified at the idea of ending life early, he wracked Jekyll's mind, too (ignoring Jekyll's minor protests), and came up with a store of ideas.

"I know I'm not a part of your League," Hyde said. "I know you just put up with me when I'm around, wishing I would go away. I know you all hate me. I know you only want Hyde."

"_This is probably your fault,"_ Tom thought to Quatermain.

"_Doesn't matter," _Quatermain replied. "_Talk him down. He's right, at least, we do need Hyde."_

"That's not true," Sawyer said aloud.

"I'm not special. I'm not a vampire, I don't have any technology, I'm not invisible…" Hyde let Jekyll's fever climb again, let himself be wracked in shivers as he stood on the side of the rail. He strove to seem absolutely pathetic.

"Jekyll, either I'm useless too, or—"

"You're a bloody secret agent!"

Mina appeared at the doorway first. As she made her way to the back of the ship, Nemo strode out the door, followed by Skinner. Four crewmen followed the trio out, and two of them tied a length of rope to a loop, preparing for one to dive in after him if he did jump.

"Oy, Jekyll, what're you—" Skinner started.

"Stay back!" Hyde said again.

Jekyll thought he knew that the others knew that he was not suicidal, but he couldn't be certain. But there was really very little other explanation for his current position. Mina was the only one who would have had any idea whatsoever that there was anything amiss with Hyde, and he didn't know if she'd piece it together or attach any sort of relevance to it even if she did think of it.

"Jekyll, why?" Mina asked. In the back of her mind, she was, in fact, already piecing together the clues, but her tone did not reveal this to Hyde, who rejoiced that his imitation of Jekyll was working so well.

"You don't want me here!" Hyde shouted over a gust of wind. "You never loved me!"

Jekyll's anger at his secret being revealed threatened to overwhelm him, but his fear of falling into the water below him was only slightly stronger. Jekyll forced himself not to rage at Hyde, fight for control, as he so dearly wanted to do.

_"Ah, you're learning,"_ Hyde smirked (in the figurative sense of the word). The words antagonized Jekyll even more, but he made no effort towards control.

Skinner moved to unwind his bandages, preparing to use his invisibility to his advantage.

"Keep them on and talk him down," Nemo said, also focusing on practically getting Jekyll back on the ship without having him fall thirty feet into freezing waters. "I have a plan," he said as he noted where Jekyll stood on the back of the boat. "Don't let him notice that I am missing." With that, he retreated to the ship's interior.

"Jekyll, really, we like you fine, get back on the ship," Skinner said nervously, cautiously approaching him. "What would I do without you? Mina can't do my bandages properly."

"A medic? That's what I am to you?"

"No, tha's not—"

"Henry," Mina said, deciding to play off of his feelings for her, "Let's discuss this. It's warmer inside, and we can sit down together—"

"No. No, that's not what you want." Hyde decided that he'd convinced them, and resolved to let himself be talked down soon. His hands had started to go numb; the game had started to get tiresome. Then he realized that one person was missing.

"Where is—" Hyde had been about to ask about the whereabouts of Nemo, and Skinner knew it. His mind raced: Nemo's plan probably hinged on that he had the element of surprise, and so Skinner had to interrupt Jekyll before he could finish the question. Skinner quickly interjected with the first thing that he could think of that was so completely radical that it could completely derail the current train of thought.

"Jekyll, I love you," Skinner said.

Absolute silence. Mina, Tom, and Hyde all turned to stare.

"_I knew he was homosexual,_" Quatermain said to Tom.

The surprise was interrupted by another, when Hyde caught a blur of motion in his peripheral vision.

Nemo had removed his heavier clothing and his turban, as if preparing for his plan to fail and a plunge into the water, and then climbed out of a window below Jekyll. He jumped up the side of the ship, grabbed the railing at Jekyll's feet, propelled himself upward, grabbed Jekyll, and tumbled over the railing to safety in one fluid motion. They both landed lying down, Jekyll bouncing off of Nemo's chest to land on the ground. Nemo was on his feet quickly, and stood over Jekyll, ready to hold him down if he tried to move back to the edge.

Jekyll immediately realized his safety and took advantage of the confusion, fought Hyde for control. He convulsed on the floor for nearly fifteen seconds before regaining it, at a cost.

"_You will regret this,"_ Hyde said.

His headache, fever, and nausea had all returned stronger than he had felt them in his mind…and Hyde had retained control of his speech entirely. It didn't matter much, as his throat felt raw and too sore to speak with anyways.

Jekyll was wracked with shivers, which aggravated his back, which began dully aching again. He began coughing heavily, and although he didn't realize it, his nose began bleeding. The world seemed to be spinning around him, and he wondered how much longer it would be that he would be unable to get control back, no matter how long it took or how hard he fought. He passed out almost immediately after, his regaining of control completely in vain.

The crewmembers, mumbling amongst themselves, eventually sent two back into the ship to carry the ropes back, and left two to watch the proceedings…to be ready to give their assistance, of course, but also out of plain curiosity.

Mina ran to Jekyll while Skinner and Tom lingered, and Nemo moved in to Mina.

"We need to get him inside," Mina said to Nemo. Nemo called to the remaining two crewmen, who then disappeared under deck and reappeared almost instantly with a tarp. Mina helped them transfer Jekyll onto the tarp and let them carry him down.

Everyone cleared the deck as it began raining heavily, and the door shut firmly. The Nautilus was to submerge, and soon.


	12. Chapter 11—The Library

**As, of course, my last (now deleted) chapter was an April fool's joke, it has no bearing on my plot. All of my characters are alive…for now.**

**Thanks to all my reviewers, and to anyone who has read my entire story up to this point.**

CHAPTER ELEVEN—The Library

Mina entered the library carrying a bag, which she set on a table and emptied out the contents. Notes, paper, stopped inkwells, and pens dropped out. She organized them quickly, and started down the medical section of the library.

After she had cleaned Jekyll's face of the blood, given him drugs to lower his fever, seen to it that he would be changed into dry clothing, and ascertained that he would be watched to make sure he didn't sneak off or attempt suicide again when he woke up, she had grabbed the notes she had made of his condition, and now struggled to find the cause of Jekyll's sickness, because it certainly wasn't getting any better.

She collected several books for reference, set them at the side of the table, and started copying down all of the notes she had made of the disease onto a single sheet of paper. Even if it were no more enlightening, at least her notes would be organized. She thought of what Jekyll had been through in the past several weeks, and started writing.

_exposure to:_

-mosquito bites

-foreign island

-smoke inhalation

-patient with open and (possibly infected) wounds

-repeated exposure to cold

_symptoms:_

-collapsing (faintness)

-fever

-erratic heartbeat

-cough

-erratic lung functioning

She looked her list over, frowned slightly as she thought about all of the symptoms that she had seen, but hadn't had time to write down. After Nemo had knocked him down, he's had some sort of fit for the few seconds before his nose had started bleeding.

-seizure

She added. She considered, briefly, the nosebleed itself…but really, Nemo had knocked the man down hard, and it had probably started bleeding on contact. But could she overlook it? Of course not.

-nosebleed

And the suicide attempt itself…was that a symptom?

- suicidal delusions?

She added tentatively. After she'd gone to his room to fetch him a dry set of clothing, she'd noted that his toothbrush had been thrown away…something that people did after throwing up and brushing the stomach acid off of their teeth.

-nausea?

She added hesitantly. Considered deeply, and then added:

-increased power from his alternate ego

She glanced over the list. It almost certainly wasn't blood-born by the mosquitoes, because the symptoms had manifested within an hour of the bites instead of days afterwards. But could the bites, fading but still visible, be hiding bumps that had formed of their own accord?

"_I need to make sure Skinner's wounds aren't infected,"_ Mina thought. "_That seems unlikely, but I also need—"_

Her thoughts were cut off as she realized that the library door had opened. She turned to look: Nemo closed the door behind him and he walked over to where Mina sat.

"Mrs. Harker," he greeted her.

"Captain Nemo," she replied, standing up to match his level. "May I help you?"

"I wished to know if you needed any specific medicines for Dr. Jekyll which are not currently available on the ship," he lied. "As you know, the world's oceans are at your disposal."

"Thank you, Nemo, but I cannot tell what ails him, let alone prescribe medication. As soon as I find out…"

"Is that what you are doing now?" Nemo asked, glancing over her notes. Mina realized that the question wasn't rhetorical; her notes were impatiently scribbled in shorthand; faster to write in, indecipherable to the untrained eye.

"Yes."

Nemo had come in fully with the intentions of giving Mina his idea, one that the lady may or may not have thought of on her own. "I do not know if you have already considered this, but remember that Jekyll is not an ordinary man. He is two, one with malicious intent against the other."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Hyde may well be interfering with his symptoms, or causing new ones. His entire illness might be caused by Hyde himself."

"You believe that Hyde might be able to interfere with Jekyll's symptoms?"

"Yes."

Mina turned this over in her mind. If this were true, then she would have to entirely alter the way she was looking for his disease. And, what Nemo suspected fit well with what Mina had observed when Jekyll had first fallen ill…and she had marked it down as a symptom. And when she'd asked him about his alternate ego, Jekyll had paused for a very long time and stumbled through a very unconvincing denial. Was he being threatened inside his head?

But how had Nemo found out? She broke off from her musings to address Nemo, who had waited patiently while Mina thought. "What makes you say that?" she asked.

"We both know that Hyde can physically affect Dr. Jekyll, even when he is not ill."

Remarkable deduction for having so little facts. Another question occurred to her. "Do you believe that he tried to kill himself?" She asked.

"He well might have," Nemo asked after a moment of consideration. "Especially if he felt as if he were loosing control."

The situation didn't seem to click together. Mina nodded slowly, more deep in thought than agreeing. "Thank you for your offer of medication, and I will be sure to notify you if I find a solution," she said. Nemo understood that she wished to be left alone in her studies, bowed his head, and swept out of the library. His first task complete, he started considering what Skinner had told him about Sawyer when—

The door closed, and Nemo had left.

Mina glanced at the symptom she had added: "-increased power from his alternate ego," and wondered if she should cross it out as irrelevant or circle it. Was it a very important symptom, or possibly the cause? How much of her list was worthless? Which symptoms could be discarded?

A moment of despair came over Mina at the sheer hopelessness of the situation, before she flipped open a book and resolved to work even harder to figure out what had happened to Dr. Jekyll.


	13. Chapter 12—The Drawing Room

**Hooray for random middle-of-the-week updates! Hopefully, I will be able to update twice a week from now on.**

**Hope you enjoy.**

CHAPTER TWELVE –The Drawing Room

Dr. Henry Jekyll quietly slipped into the drawing room and closed the door behind him. Three other doors remained where they were; the ones to Nemo's and Mina's bedrooms closed, and the other, opening to a spare room, remained open. It didn't matter much, as Jekyll only needed a few moments of peace.

A few moments were all that he was to be afforded. He was supposed to be under supervision, and probably for good reason. He had explained that it was by Hyde's doing that he had nearly been thrown over the ship, but he wasn't sure if he was believed. Either way, yesterday morning's events reflected just how dangerous Hyde was…and yet Jekyll knew that, as long as he was awake, he could fight for control. He had been given drugs to combat the fever and pain, and had even felt up to walking around a bit.

Had any other member of the League been on watch at the time, he would not have been permitted to wander, and Jekyll would have been confined to the medical room even longer. But Skinner had been on watch at the time. Skinner was, himself, supposed to be resting instead of watching Jekyll, and was sympathetic to Jekyll's desire to do something besides sit confined in a room. The two decided to take a walk.

Skinner had been leading the way and prattling on about some topic of no interest to Jekyll, and had continued obliviously down the hallway after Jekyll had turned off into the room. With any luck, it would be a long time before he was found.

A moment of silence would not come. "_You don't have much time left…"_ Hyde whispered. The two still struggled, and Jekyll's movements had become increasingly spastic when he was alone. Hyde had not given any indication of his power when anyone else was watching, but when no one was watching, he was constantly testing and reaffirming his growing power over Jekyll's limbs.

Jekyll sat on the bench next to the piano organ, and simply observed the room. It really was quite beautiful…spacious, yet crowded with paintings, sculptures, and collections of various sea coral and shells under glass. It was practically a museum. It was a pity his field of science had nothing to do with underwater life.

What weighed the most heavily on Jekyll's mind was what Hyde had listed as his reason for being suicidal the day prior. The thoughts that Hyde had scourged from Jekyll's subconscious were true—he wasn't going to kill himself over them, but they were true nonetheless. He didn't know if he was even liked, let alone loved, and what Skinner had said had only been for the purpose of distraction. Not that he wanted or needed the love of another man—unnatural and blasphemous—but for just a moment, he wondered if he could push away love from any source it came from. Jekyll sighed and turned back to admiring the room. The room was pretty. The room was simple. Hyde was silent. Jekyll didn't know nor care what Hyde was planning.

Skinner carefully looked inside the room from the open door, spotted Jekyll sitting there. "_How oblivious does he think I am?"_ Skinner thought, and then considered. Jekyll wanted a moment in peace, fine. Mina wanted him supervised to make sure that he didn't kill himself; well…maybe he could do that too. Skinner backed out into the adjacent room, stuffed his clothing and raveling of bandages under the bed (feeling a slight twinge of guilt at undoing the time it had taken to get his wounds properly bandaged), and stepped into the room, very carefully avoiding the statues and glass that seemed to be scattered everywhere. He didn't make it more than two steps in before Jekyll sighed, stood up, and started walking the aisles, examining everything around him. Skinner decided to linger next to the exit and prepare to duck out should Jekyll come his way.

Jekyll's vision blurred…he carefully refocused it. It happened again, and he wondered briefly if it was Hyde, again playing with his senses, but his considerations faded to nothing as his mind seemed to drain of thought.

"What am I doing here?" he asked. He meant for it to be in his mind, for only himself to consider, but realized he'd spoken aloud after he heard his words aloud.

"Don't you know?" Hyde responded, also speaking aloud by taking Jekyll's speech function. Hyde could sense that the disease, which almost seemed to have gone away, had really progressed. Henry seemed confused, Edward was only too happy to use his confusion as a tool. Jekyll turned to face a mirror, and Hyde saw that Jekyll's eyes were no longer bloodshot, but they were openly bleeding out the corners.

"Am I…I'm on the run," Jekyll said, dawning realization. He felt Hyde take his speech to answer. "You killed a woman," Hyde said. Jekyll took back his speech. "Don't be…I don't…I don't kill them, you do," he protested. Hyde responded. "You beat her to death. Police are after you." Jekyll's confusion deepened.

It suddenly occurred to Skinner that maybe he should have insisted that Jekyll rest in the medical room instead of letting him wander. Jekyll turned in a slow circle, and Skinner saw that he was bleeding from the eyes and ears.

"Get out of my head!" Jekyll cried. Shift. "It's my head, too." Every physical movement Jekyll made seemed like he was struggling against a current.

"Christ, 'enry, we need to get you back to the medical room," Skinner said, announcing his presence. He expected anger; that was the standard reaction to being watched.

"Where are you?" Jekyll asked, taking a step backward. His arm jumped backwards as his back hit a case, and the combined force toppled it, and glass shattered as its display items were knocked to the floor. "Who…who are you?"

"It's… Rodney." Skinner considered if the visibility was an issue, and stepped out of the room, and reappeared with a hat, longing for his trench coat. "Over here. We need to get Mina."

"Ah, Utterson, I thought it was you. Believe me, the experiments are going as planned, nothing to worry about."

"You're bleedin' out the ears," Skinner said, carefully avoiding the broken glass as he walked to Jekyll, not sure if he would be able to get him to do anything by force. Damn these burns! But if Jekyll was delusional, who's to say he wasn't violent?

"No," Jekyll responded, "the formula only looks like blood. It's not, really, I've thought about it…but it's not. It's the…unique mixture of particles…reflecting light in a similar manner…with the…and…blood…"

Henry's mind shifted rapidly from scene to scene as he tried to make sense of his visual input, which wavered and grew hazy at the edges. He took two steps back, almost fell over the broken display case, and then stepped over it, his shoes crunching on the broken glass. Skinner looked at the obstacle and decided to risk it.

He felt a measure of pain as he stepped on a piece of broken glass, but could not tell if he was bleeding when he yanked the shard out of his foot. He carefully grabbed Jekyll's arm, praying that he would not lash out, and led him back towards the door. Jekyll docilely followed, but still glanced around like a trapped animal, and still seemed confused.

"'ey!" Skinner shouted into the hallway at the nearest crewman. "Get Mina!"

"Mina?" The crewman asked, uncertain. He looked in the general direction of Skinner, but from his position could see only see a disembodied hat, and Jekyll, whose face was coated in blood.

"Yeah, bring Mina here," Skinner repeated slowly. The crewman quickly ran off in the direction of the library, and Skinner hoped that the message had been received.

"But what about the police?" Jekyll asked, still unsure of the situation. "They're coming for you," Hyde answered aloud.

"Jus'…jus' take it easy," Skinner said to Jekyll. "There aren' any police here."

"He's one of them," Hyde said, and this time the difference in pitch between his and Jekyll's voice was clearly audible. He was gone just as suddenly, and Jekyll whipped his head to Skinner, wide-eyed and distrusting. "No," Jekyll said, skeptical but scared, "he can't be…he's not even really here."

"'enry, listen to me, we're on the Nautilus. I'm your friend, I'm not the cops. Don' listen to Hyde."

Mina entered the room and quickly observed the damage. "What happened?" she asked.

"Uh, I kinda let him out of his room and 'e went crazy an' started bleedin from 'is face."

"She's one of them!" Jekyll said. Mina glanced at Jekyll, and then inquisitively back at Skinner. He nodded his head, only visible as a bobbing hat.

"Yeah, an' Hyde's been talking to 'im out loud. Jekyll's paranoid, or delusional, or sumfin."

Mina felt his forehead, confused at the lack of fever.

"No symptoms," Jekyll mumbled. "No fever. No headache. All gone. All better."

What Skinner found scariest about the string of quiet, obviously false statements was that they were the most rational string of thoughts Jekyll had conceived of for the past several minutes. How far gone was he?

"Alright, help me get him back to the medical room," Mina said to Skinner.

Jekyll allowed himself to be led out of the room, and Hyde reveled at his own newfound power. He was still not quite able to seize control when Jekyll was conscious…but close. So close.


	14. Chapter 13—The Conference Room

CHAPTER THIRTEEN—The Conference Room

Skinner sat at the table, at this point alone, and looked properly ashamed. After Mina had led Jekyll back to the medical room, she had lectured Skinner on his irresponsibility and inability to follow the only order he had been given: keep Jekyll in the medical room; he needs to rest. Skinner was too surprised and overwhelmed to do much more than sputter out weak apologies.

Nemo had arrived, and Skinner flushed, embarrassed at being yelled at in front of an audience. He was spared much indignity when something crashed—loudly—inside of the medical room. Mina had ducked in immediately, but Nemo had heard enough of the situation to know that a meeting was in order immediately. He had instructed that Skinner get Sawyer and the two were to wait in the conference room while Nemo finished helping Mina tend to Jekyll.

Sawyer, inside his room, made a promise of attendance, but had not immediately left the room. So, for the time being, Skinner was left alone with his thoughts as he tried to get himself together.

Yes, he had screwed up. He had probably shattered the last of Mina's trust in him. But if there was to be a meeting, he needed to put all of that aside and focus on what was being discussed. And, of course, his last refuge was his invisibility; no one could read his face. No one would notice his embarrassment, frustration, or shame if he could just keep his voice steady. Making a conscious effort to keep talking was the key.

Skinner awkwardly sat in the seat sideways, not wanting his burnt back to brush against the chair. He stared at his feet…or where they would be. He could see a thin coating of dried blood across the bottom of one, where he had stepped on glass. He considered wiping it off when Sawyer entered.

"'ello, Sawyer," Skinner greeted. "An' Quatermain, I guess." Sawyer looked strangely in Skinner's general direction, but did not answer. "Who am I talking to?" Skinner asked.

"It's just me, Skinner," he said with a shrug.

"Well I dun know who that is. I'm going to need more words then that if I'm goin' to 'ave to distinguish between the accents." Skinner surprised himself at how confident he sounded when he felt so miserable.

Sawyer moved to speak again, but Nemo and Mina entered instead. The two wearily took their seats, having had to subdue Jekyll, who had begun thrashing and trying to escape with surprising willpower for a sick man. They'd eventually managed to get him under chloroform, and it had taken him a surprisingly long time to pass out.

"'ow's 'e doing?" Skinner asked, trying to sound appropriately shameful.

"He ended up being violent," Mina said. "He probably would have overwhelmed you even if you had stayed in the medical room."

There was a moment of shocked silence as Skinner and Sawyer considered the news. Henry Jekyll was many things, but violent was not one of them.

Mina turned her attention from Skinner to the entirety of the room and addressed Nemo and Sawyer, too. "Now, I know that our shifts of watch were informally discussed, but as we don't know how long Jekyll would be sick, I thought it would be best that—"

"Wait, what do you mean don't know how long he's going to be sick?" Sawyer asked, surprising Skinner by his involvement in the conversation instead of his standard staring out into space. "I was under the impression that you knew what he had."

"No, Mr. Sawyer, I do not. His symptoms seem to derive from nowhere, and they are constantly shifting."

"Crazy thought," Skinner interjected, "But has anyone bothered to ask _Doctor_ Jekyll if 'e knows what's wrong with 'imself?"

There was a moment of silence as Mina realized that she'd overlooked that Jekyll was still sane…prior to today… and probably had a good grip on his own symptoms.

"Hardly useful if his darker side is taking over," Nemo stated. "We cannot trust any words that comes out of his mouth. We cannot trust any of his actions or motives."

"Maybe we ought to take 'im to a proper 'ospital," Skinner suggested. Nemo's mouth tightened into a thin line. Skinner had been prepared for Nemo's dislike at the suggestion that the rest of the world was in any way superior to the Nautilus and the sea, but felt it necessary to throw it out there.

"I hardly think they'll have any better luck than I," Mina said coolly, and Skinner realized that in a swift statement he'd managed to insult her medical knowledge, too. "If anything, their lack of knowledge at Jekyll's…situation…will be a hindrance. Not to mention, Doctor Jekyll is a wanted man."

"What was this meeting for again?" Sawyer asked, sounding only a little irritated. Quatermain was willing enough to help the League, but described the current going-ons as tail chasing.

"If we are going to continue to set watches for Jekyll—"

"Who's watching 'im now?" Skinner asked. Mina frowned at being interrupted again, but allowed the conversation to diverge.

"My crew," Nemo said.

"Well what's wrong with that?" Sawyer asked. "Why can't we have them watch him until he gets better?"

"What indeed?" Nemo agreed, ready to express his pride for his crew. "My men are well trained. Perhaps not much to speak of in medical knowledge, but certainly no worse than any of us, save Mrs. Harker."

"Well, there is the language barrier," Mina said.

"What's there to say?" Sawyer asked, determined to get as much free time for his target practice as possible. "Stay in the bed? Here's some food? How hard is that to comprehend?"

Mina thought briefly that Skinner seemed to be having trouble with those orders, even without speaking different languages. But Skinner was Skinner, and, as Nemo had mentioned, these crewmen were trained, nearly professionals. "Very well," Mina consented. "Any objections?" She was, of course, talking to Skinner, the only one not expressing himself on the subject.

"Nope," Skinner said. He wanted nothing more than to leave the room and be alone for a while. Hell, maybe he would even rest and give his burns a chance to heal.

"Motion carries" Mina said. "I will tell Jekyll when he awakens about the new arrangements."


	15. Chapter 14—A crewman

CHAPTER FOURTEEN—A crewman

The crewman had been ordered by Nemo to watch Henry Jekyll. Make sure he stayed in bed, make sure he could reach nothing sharp, and if he tried anything dangerous, subdue him or call for help.

He had taken the first shift, during which Nemo had not believed that the man Jekyll would wake up, "probably will just sleep the entire time," was what he had said. And slept Jekyll did, fitfully and feverishly, but he did sleep.

The crewman's shift had ended, and for the rest of the day, he and four other crewmembers took shifts of multiple hours. During the crewman's first shift, members of the League had entered periodically, but there was little to say, with Jekyll being unconscious and the crewman not understanding English. The only one who had not entered for a brief visit was the vampire Mina, who had been slaving away in the library to find the cause of the illness.

Information about Jekyll was passed from shift to shift, so that each was informed of what had happened in their absence. Night came, and the crewman remained awake in his cabin later than he usually did, knowing that the shift was about to change, and he would be on soon for his shift.

11:30 came, and the crewman entered the medical room, where a different crewman sat, looking quite bored. "What has happened with him?" the first crewman asked quietly. Jekyll slept on.

"Not a thing," the second crewman replied. "His bleeding has stopped entirely, and he sleeps naturally. He eats normally, seems to speak normally, thinks and reads when he is awake, and his other side has not broken through. We are speculating that he may have recovered."

After the shift change ended and the other man left, the crewman took a seat and dutifully kept his eyes on Jekyll, but his mind wandered. He was snapped back to duty an hour later when Jekyll started rustling in his bed.

The crewman watched, waiting to see if he would awaken. Jekyll's eyes opened, and so the crewman, surprised and unsure of how to handle the situation, stood up. In each of his previous shifts, Jekyll had slept. Jekyll looked around as though confused.

Jekyll said something to the man. Although a few of the crewmembers had started to learn English when it became clear that the League would stay, the man assigned to watch Jekyll was not one of them. He knew only the English "Yes" and "No," along with a collection of names of those aboard the Nautilus.

Jekyll asked a question in English.

"I don't understand you," the crewman responded in his native tongue. Jekyll frowned, and stared at the ceiling. He had already received instructions to stay in the bed.

The crewman agreed with the assessment that Jekyll did not seem sick, although he did seem worried. Jekyll suddenly clutched his head, and then rubbed his temples. A headache? The crewman wasn't sure if he should get help or some drugs for the man, and looked at the doorway, wondering if he should go now.

"Hey," Jekyll said. The crewman looked back at him, expecting him to point to his head or otherwise mime asking for drugs. Jekyll instead looked over to a table across the room and pointed to the medium-sized chalkboard on wheels. He mimed writing in midair.

Nemo had said to make sure that he stay in bed, but the crewman was uncertain whether that was to keep him from harm or to make him rest. He decided, after a moment's silent debate, to wheel it over to his bed. Jekyll nodded his head gratefully, winced at the movement, and rubbed his temples again. He grabbed a stump of chalk, and slowly sat up.

Once up, he began writing.

The crewman could barely form letters with a quivering pen in his own hand, let alone comprehend written English science. So instead of watching exactly what Jekyll was writing, he focused on the man's face instead. He thought he remembered that the man had been a scientist, and if that were the case, it would explain his look of utter absorption and concentration. He didn't seem to realize his headache any more.

Minutes passed, and Jekyll had made a double list of some sort, a picture of what looked like isolated letters with numbers, and several written statements in a paragraph at the bottom of the board.

"No," Jekyll muttered. "No!" He suddenly kicked the board over onto the floor and looked over at the crewman, who had stood up and started advancing, and started rambling in English in a pleading tone. Jekyll waved one hand in the air in front of his face, and gestured at the board. The crewman didn't get a chance to show his confusion, as Jekyll covered the half of his face closest to the board, as though he didn't want to see what he had written, and ran for the door.

The crewman was on him in seconds, and quickly had his arms locked behind his back. Jekyll had made it into the hallway, but only slightly.

"Sawyer!" Jekyll yelled. The American was indeed walking down the hallway, and the crewman instinctively recoiled. It was speculated among the crew that he was possessed. The crewman thought of a dozen suspicious or untrustworthy reasons for Sawyer to be out wandering in the middle of the night before remembering that he'd been absent at dinner…and was probably just hungry. Going to the kitchen.

Jekyll's speech was rapid and desperate as he talked to Sawyer, and the words were shaky and matched similar tremors that now shook his body. Sawyer made a reply, and then Jekyll stopped struggling. He continued shaking, but allowed the crewman to wrest him back into the room and onto the bed. Sawyer followed the two, and then glanced around the room briefly. He grabbed the chalkboard eraser, and asked Jekyll a question, obviously confused.

"Yes," Jekyll said weakly. Sawyer shrugged, walked over to the overturned chalkboard, and erased what Jekyll had written.

Jekyll, instead of calming down, started convulsing even more strongly. The crewman stepped out into the hallway, and whistled twice in rapid succession.

"Go get Nemo," he said to the first of his fellow crewmen who arrived. "There is trouble."

The other crewman nodded, and ran for Nemo's quarters. Sawyer had held Jekyll down, one hand on his head to stop it from banging, and the other on his chest to keep him down.

There was a pause, as if Jekyll had fallen unconscious. A moment later, Sawyer was across the room. The sick man Jekyll, who had thrown him, started to speak, and then faltered. Looking resolved, he moved with unearthly speed as he moved across the room. There were no more tremors in his body, his face looked incredibly determined, and he walked with confidence that the crewman had only seen once in Jekyll: right after he had saved Nemo's submarine from sinking.

Jekyll stepped over Sawyer, and picked up a pen. Jekyll gripped the pen like a dagger and moved it up to his own face, holding the pen over his own eye while giving deliberate instructions to Sawyer as the American struggled to his feet. As Jekyll talked, Sawyer took several steps backward.

The crewman knew about Hyde…his brother had been one of those injured in the initial restraint of the beast. And everyone knew that the beast was inside of Jekyll, could talk to him, could control him in his mind…but could not control his movements. There were conflicting accounts and rumors among the crewmembers of how much power the beast currently had over Jekyll, but that was the only reason the crewman could think of for the man threatening himself.

Jekyll began talking again, and he used the name "Hyde" twice in the sentence. The speech was malignant and threatening, but Sawyer suddenly seemed to noticeably relax. His stance shifted slightly, and he responded to Jekyll. His voice was far calmer now, and seemed bizarrely…older. He had changed.

It seemed that both men had been possessed. The crewman backed away from the two, only warding off panic with the knowledge that help was coming. The corner he backed into was directly diagonal of the door, and was perhaps the most confined place he could have chosen, but the crewman was worried only about edging away from the two.

Nemo entered the room, and the crewman felt instantly better, trusting that Nemo would know what to do. Sawyer said something to Nemo, who replied back to Sawyer. Jekyll made a comment, sounding more sarcastic than threatening. He still held the pen to his eye.

From his angle, the crewman could see, through the mirror, floating bandages outside being unwound. They were unnoticeable entirely from any other perspective in the room.

"Call his attention to you," Nemo said. For a moment, the crewman was confused, as Nemo hadn't broken eye contact with Jekyll, and seemed to be speaking to the doctor…but if Nemo had been, then he certainly would have addressed him in English. He realized that Nemo was talking to him. "The invisible one is preparing to subdue him," Nemo explained. Frightened for his life but trusting Nemo utterly, the crewman started shouting at Jekyll, taking liberties in knowing that Jekyll would not understand him.

"Hey! Look over here! Don't look over there, I am distracting you!" He continued shouting along this vein. Jekyll glanced briefly at him. The crewman saw the last of the bandages being unwound and fall the to the floor, and assumed that Skinner was on his way in.

Not thinking, he grabbed the nearest object, a book, and threw it at Jekyll. Surprised, Jekyll dropped his hand down a bit and looked in the direction of the crewman. For a single paralyzed moment, the two stared at each other. The next second the pen was out of Jekyll's hand, and he was shoved by an invisible hand and tripped by an invisible foot. Nemo and Sawyer were on him, and he heard a yowl of pain as Sawyer bumped into thin-air…presumably where Skinner stood.

"Nemo, what is going on?" the crewman asked, feeling stupid and confused.

"One moment…please…" Nemo said, still utterly respectful to his staff, although he was straining to keep the man Jekyll restrained. The crewman moved to help, but stopped when Nemo said "Please fetch…a length of rope…from the next room over."

The crewman almost moved to the door, but outside, a small group of the crew stood. Unsure of how to help, they lingered, but almost before Nemo finished giving the order, it had rippled through the group, and a coil of rope had made its way to the front of the group. The crewman inside the room grabbed the rope and ran to Nemo, who nodded his head at Jekyll's wrists, which Nemo held together.

The crewman, who still sometimes mixed up the letters "S" and "Z," had been tying ropes for most of his life, and quickly affixed Jekyll's hands tightly, allowing a few feet of rope out of the knots. When he was done, the crewman handed the leash to Nemo, and Jekyll felt the tightness and calmed slightly. He said something bitterly.

Nemo said something to Jekyll. Jekyll said something back. Nemo replied, sweeping his arm towards the group of crewmen who stood ready in the door, and his tone of voice definitely implied a threat. Jekyll sat up quickly, without the faintest trace of the headache that had ailed him five minutes ago. The crewman cursed the language differences that prevented him from fully understanding the situation.

The vampire struggled through the crowd and entered the room, and drew a syringe from her fist. Jekyll, seeing her, began struggling again, thrashing and trying to escape the ropes, and trying to kick Sawyer off of his legs. He did not stop until Harker had jammed the needle into his arm and pushed the plunger. A few moments later, the man was asleep.

"Nemo," the crewman asked again as he helped carry Jekyll's body to the bed. "Why does Jekyll act this way? Is he delirious?"

"In a way," Nemo replied. "His darker side has taken control. For the sake

of your safety, I must ask that you and the other crew members stay away from this man and this room until Jekyll returns."

"Then that was—"

"Hyde. That was Hyde."


	16. Chapter 15—Henry Jekyll

**I apologize for the late update**—**I was on a semi-vacation. I know many of you were worried about me not updating Saturday, and that everyone was disappointed at not getting their second update of the week on time...hah hah, just kidding! Actually, no one even noticed that I updated late until I just now mentioned it. But I feel obligated to apologize anyways. So there you go. Enjoy the (day late) chapter. **

CHAPTER FIFTEEN—Henry Jekyll

Jekyll's dreams were lucid but vivid, and when he awoke to a semi-dream state, he could no longer tell what was real. Was it true that Hyde had nearly thrown him over a ship? Did he really fight with three men? Was he tied up now? And, most importantly, did the—

He stopped himself mid-thought and confined the last question to his subconscious, where Hyde couldn't reach. As confused as he was, he knew that if what he'd written on the blackboard got into Hyde's hands, it could be dangerous.

"_You're going to let me know eventually,"_ Hyde said, and although he spoke in a tone that was light-hearted, Jekyll could sense the frustration. He felt himself being torn out of his pleasant dream-like state and shoved out to the front of his mind. Jekyll was in control again, but his symptoms hit full-force. In a display of petty hate, Hyde had kicked his blankets to the floor. Jekyll shivered but could not pull a blanket around him; his hands were literally tied and strung to the bedpost above his head. His hands had fallen numb.

Jekyll understood that being in control, and therefore symptomatic, was a punishment, but for the first time did not know if his headache, back pain, jaw/throat pain, stomach cramps, and dizziness were what his disease had progressed to or what Hyde had created for him.

"_What was on the blackboard that you were so eager to keep from me?"_ Hyde demanded.

"_Why are you so determined to view it that you admitted to the others how much control you have?" _Jekyll countered defiantly.

Hyde didn't answer immediately, but he didn't need to. When Jekyll had realized the implications of what he had written, he had been filled with such understanding and despair that it had woken Hyde from his slumber and ended Jekyll's brief reprieve from the monster.

"_I haven't let them know how much control I have,"_ Hyde replied sweetly._ "How could I? It keeps growing…"_

Jekyll felt a sharp chest pain, as though he had been stabbed. He knew he hadn't, but the pain seemed real enough.

"_And growing…"_

Fingernails ripped out.

_"And growing."_

Full-body spasm of sheer agony. Jekyll couldn't help it, he cried out.

"_Tell me."_

Henry Jekyll, a proper English gentleman, knew that what had been on that blackboard was more important than being tortured. The equations were damning, and who knew, Hyde might even understand them. Jekyll let out groans and breaths of pain, but did not speak, and kept the equations and conclusions buried in his subconscious. Hyde abruptly stopped the pain.

"_Why are they…"_ Jekyll thought, but couldn't bring himself to finish. Paused, drew up energy. "_The League. My…my friends. Why are they not here?"_

_"They were never your friends, Henry."_ Hyde's unhelpfulness didn't matter; Jekyll hadn't been talking to him anyways. He continued thinking aloud.

_"They would have set someone up to watch…"_

_"They don't care about you in the slightest."_

_"They know that you are in power…"_

_"They want you dead, they've always wanted me and me alone."_

_"I've been yelling, but they're not here at all…is this a dream?" _

Jekyll swiftly awoke, but the situation was almost exactly the same. Still wracked with symptoms, still tied to the bed…but he had grown incredibly hungry, and Sawyer was there now, a gun lying across his lap. Sunlight streamed through the window, indicating that they had surfaced, and whatever storm they'd encountered the day previously had blown over.

"Sawyer …" Jekyll said. Currently, his only advantage in being in control of his body was his speech functions. Even so, he felt Hyde reading his thoughts before he could speak them, ready to censor anything he didn't want coming out. It didn't matter that he had been dreaming; the pain of torture was entirely real, and a motivator to obey to avoid more pain. Jekyll could only think of one relevant thing to say. "Where is Mina?"

"Mina's been awake for a couple of days," Sawyer replied. "She's sleeping now. She sent me here to watch you."

"So…the crewmen—"

"Nemo thought it would be dangerous to risk their lives. He didn't want anyone less than extraordinary to…well…watch you."

"_Then what are _you_ doing here?"_ Jekyll thought bitterly. Horrified at his own sentiment once he realized what he had thought, he repressed it, and tried to follow a new train of thought.

Jekyll looked over his head, and examined the ropes there. He sighed, thinking of how _certain_ he'd been that Hyde would not physically affect his life any more. Even as he thought it, he felt his temperature rising, as if Hyde had only suppressed his fever temporarily. He broke out in sweat.

His face itched, his neck itched, his back itched. The mosquito bites hadn't even been that bad when he was free, but the mere fact that he couldn't do anything about them made it all the more unbearable.

He rubbed one side of his face against his forearm, then the other side against his other forearm. He tried not to think of how undignified he looked, squirming in the bed against the unbearable itching.

"Um, you okay?" Sawyer asked.

"I've been better," Jekyll said as he started shivering, thinking not about the damn fever, but about the incident that led to his restraint. How he'd realized that he could scarcely control his limbs anymore, how Hyde had held the pen in his hand like a knife, how he'd stared at the pen and casually threatened to plunge it into Jekyll's eye if he continued blocking his speech…"_You know I could live just fine without an eye, how about you?"_ Hyde had demanded with conviction. Jekyll had given up the fight.

Jekyll realized that his mind had drifted off into a sort of daydream, and snapped back to reality when he felt a trickle under his nose. It took him a moment to realize that it was blood.

"You've started bleeding again," Sawyer said.

"I know." Jekyll impatiently wiped it on the side of his arm, leaving a smear of blood there. He tried to consider what it meant, but could not quite decipher it. "_If this damn headache would just go away…"_ but it did not.

"Say Jekyll, you don't know what's wrong with you, do you?"

"So Mina has not figured out what is wrong with me yet?" Jekyll asked after a minute.

"No, not yet," Sawyer said.

"Okay, Hyde—" on the verge of giving Sawyer his list of symptoms (separating those inflicted by Hyde and his natural symptoms that appeared when Hyde was asleep) and what he suspected was the cause, Hyde cut his speech off. The motion was entirely unexpected, as Jekyll had nearly forgotten, for a moment, that his mind was no longer his own. He could do no more than make faint gurgling sounds.

"Hide what? Oh, Hyde! Is he…"

Jekyll could do nothing but nod, and turned his speech inward.

"_Edward what the hell are you doing?" _

_"Your sickness is my power. I'm not going to give that up."_

_"I could die! You would die!"_

Hyde, snakelike, burrowed sharply into Jekyll's mind. Jekyll quickly moved to safeguard his blackboard equations, leaving the rest of his mind open, but the equations were not what Hyde was after.

"_You think you know what it is,"_ Hyde commented, "_and you don't think it will do you any good to tell them."_

_"It will stop their pointless searching and let them concentrate on what is important!"_

_"What is important is that they remain distracted." _He started thinking about ways to get Sawyer out of the room. Hyde took control, and Jekyll, his pain suddenly removed, could only be grateful.

"Listen, about Skinner—" Hyde began.

"I know it's you, Hyde" Sawyer said accusingly. Jekyll, still relishing at the relief, was disrupted only momentarily by Hyde's burst of shock.

"_They can tell the difference between you and I,"_ Jekyll said lazily. He felt like he was floating on water…unfeeling but relaxed and carefree. "_Looks like my friends know me better than you think._"

"_How did he know?"_ Hyde demanded of Jekyll.

Jekyll, instead of answering, started thinking to himself, analyzing his darker half and thinking aloud even though he knew fully well that Hyde would hear every word of it. "_Although he's started diverting pieces of higher reasoning ability, he seems to be lacking essential parts of the upper brain division that he will not obtain until—" _his thought process was abruptly stopped as he was forced out again, and instantly started coughing hard, blood spattering down his shirt. His nose had started bleeding again, and the room didn't seem to want to stay still.

"_I don't know how he knows," _Jekyll miserably answered Hyde's question.

_"Figure it out. You know what I can do to you." _

"What the hell is he doing to you, Jekyll?" Skinner asked. Jekyll looked over at him, and saw that the American was on his feet, gun in hand. Jekyll could not answer, could only gaze helplessly at him.

Hyde slowly regained control, and Jekyll's nosebleed seemed to clot and heal instantly.

"I'm talking to Jekyll, not you, asshole," Sawyer said.

Not in the least bit intimidated but thoroughly baffled, Hyde let Jekyll in front again.

"You wrote two columns of symptoms before you had me erase it," Sawyer stated.

Jekyll walked the fine line of trying to remember just enough about the blackboard to answer Sawyer's question yet keep Hyde out of the memory. The symptoms weren't the important part, but the written statement and the chemical equations he had drawn…

Hyde seized on the slight opening. Jekyll closed it, just barely in time, and took Hyde's momentary distraction to speak. "Left column was the _real symptoms,_" Jekyll managed out before Hyde cut him off. Jekyll knew he would be punished, tortured with pure pain, when he realized something that might save him from the agony. Jekyll realized how Sawyer knew the shift between himself and Hyde.

"_It's the symptoms,"_ Jekyll said quickly. "_When I'm out I'm bleeding, in pain, and coughing. When you're out, you're not."_

Hyde thought it over, and concluded that Jekyll was right. He resolved to use the information immediately, and kept Jekyll out in front, and only took his voice, allowing Jekyll control in all other regards.

"He's…it's horrible," Hyde said in Jekyll's voice, striving to sound pitiful, and allowing it to waver. Jekyll was tempted, for a moment, to shake his head in negation to Hyde's words. He knew he could, but did not, knowing that he could still have that agonizing pain shot through his body in a heartbeat…

"So the left column was your symptoms?" Sawyer mused aloud. "Was the right one for the one's that Hyde's making?"

"Hyde…what he's doing…it hurts," Hyde said, trying to honestly sound in pain, to get Sawyer off of the subject. Blood continued leaking from Jekyll's nose, forming a pool of blood on his shirt "Could you get me some medication from the—"

"Well I'm not about to leave," Sawyer said. "But Mina did leave me with this." He picked up the syringe from a table, and Hyde and Jekyll both realized it was the same one that Mina had used earlier to knock Hyde out.

"Well it isn't so bad as to be—" Hyde tried to back out of the situation.

"I'm beginning to doubt that it's you speaking, Jekyll," Sawyer said. "Listen, Mina told me that you need rest so your body can fix itself, and this is the best way to make sure that that happens."

Jekyll could tell that Hyde didn't want to be knocked out, but Jekyll didn't want to even more, thinking about how vulnerable he was to Hyde when he was asleep. "_Let me speak,"_ Jekyll snarled. Hyde roughly triggered the pain center in Jekyll's brain as punishment, but seemed to realize that the best way to stop the shot from coming was to let Jekyll speak.

"Sawyer, please, I've been knocked out five times in the past three days. I really don't—"

"Three times in five days," Tom interrupted.

"Pardon?"

"Since Mina first put you under chloroform. It's been five days since you got back from the island. And she only knocked you out three times."

"Five…but…really? No wonder I'm just getting worse! Stop drugging me and let my body heal itself. And I was counting the times Hyde has knocked me out, too."

"A point was made yesterday," Sawyer said. "That we don't know how much power Hyde has over you any more. I'm really sorry, but we can't trust you."

"Who said that? Skinner?" Hyde gambled. "You know what he said about _you?_"

"Don't worry Jekyll, I know what Hyde's doing to you." Tom paused. "Sort of. Anyways, sleep now."

Jekyll, in front, felt himself falling asleep almost as soon as the shot was administered. He could feel Hyde's frustration, but there was conviction in there, too, and Jekyll feared what his plans might be leading up to


	17. Chapter 16—Edward Hyde

CHAPTER SIXTEEN—Edward Hyde

Hyde lay trapped in the paralyzed body, biding his time…and plotted.

Moments after the admission of the drugs Jekyll slept. More importantly, after hours of silence, Sawyer had been forced to trade shifts with Skinner. While the crewman's shifts had been formal and efficient, Hyde quickly realized that Skinner was badly hung over. After another hour of silence, Skinner slept, too.

The drugs had worn off after the hours of idleness, but at last Edward Hyde was free to roam…such as it was. But the time had not been wasted. Prior to his sickness, when Jekyll slept, Edward slept too, as nothing happened when Jekyll was in control and slept. But this time, Edward spent the time in thought.

Several days ago, when Sawyer had removed Jekyll's clothes, everything had been thrown to the floor. When Mina returned to check on Jekyll, she had sighed, picked up mostly everything…but there were three things that Hyde had not seen picked up. Jekyll's shoes, his vest, and his flask of potion.

What reason would one have for leaving them on the floor? None. Besides, neither Hyde nor Jekyll had seen any trace of them when getting up and moving around. So where were they? Simple: kicked under the bed, out of sight, and out of mind.

Jekyll's sleep had worn from drug-induced to a natural doze, and he slept deeply. Hyde found the portion of Jekyll's brain that registered the cold associated with being plunged into ice water, and triggered it to wake him up. Jekyll woke up with a start and shouted in his mind, but Hyde retained control of his physical vocal cords. Jekyll, miserable, drew up into himself, but seemed to know better than to ask why Hyde had chosen such an unpleasant way of waking him up.

Hyde laughed. "_You're not going to want to miss this,"_ he said. He grabbed the rail edge of the bed and rolled backwards over it, landing silently on his feet at the head of the bed. He could feel Jekyll's reluctant awe at his grace and power (in Jekyll's body no less, something he hadn't known himself capable of), then confusion as to why he was doing this when he was still tied with a rope to the bed and had nowhere to go, and then panic as he realized that Skinner was asleep.

Hyde awkwardly stuck a foot under the bed and fished Jekyll's vest out from underneath the bed, and buried inside it was the potion flask. He could feel Jekyll's panic, and waited to see if he would say anything.

"_Please,"_ Jekyll pleaded. "_For the sake of my health…our health…"_

Hyde considered, for just a moment, that he might be endangering himself. Previously he had brushed this off as a mind-game Jekyll had played, and now that he knew what the illness was…

"_Death rates for Yellow Fever are low,"_ Hyde shrugged. "_Besides, I won't be out long." _Jekyll weakly protested the statistics and stages of the disease as Hyde got the potion bottle. His hands still tied and prone several feet above the floor, he nudged the bottle's loop onto his toe and pulled it up to his hand. He chugged the entire half-bottle before the transformation started, already promising himself that he would let Jekyll rest after he was finished tonight. It was worth the risk to have a night out.

Hyde's wrists expanded, but almost did not snap the ropes. He grew taller, but not so much that he brushed the ceiling. His muscles grew decidedly, but did not bulge out.

"_What has happened to me?_" Hyde asked, talking more to himself then to Jekyll. He glanced in the mirror instinctively to demand an explanation from Jekyll, who was staring back at him through yellow-tinted eyes.

"_The more you've been accessing the reason portions of my brain, the more you've been shrinking,"_ Jekyll responded.

Hyde considered this. It made sense; he'd been far smaller when he had first come into existence, back when he was fairly intelligent. He could sense a correlation between the two.

No matter. He hadn't always had the ungodly strength that had been granted to him recently. Even as he was now, he was a tall man with a powerful build. He was confident. He was crazy and knew it. And now…he was smart.

Hyde heard Skinner's breathing shift as he moved towards wakefulness. Hyde quickly rummaged through the cabinets, knowing that the noise would increase the speed of Skinner waking up, but he would have a weapon before long.

A cane, on the off chance of there being a surgery patient. As if by destiny; how else had he completed the string of murders back in London?

"'ey, who the 'ell are you?" Skinner asked groggily, standing up.

In response, the cane swung through the air and hit about where Hyde estimated his head to be. It struck something, but Skinner did not crumple to the ground. He didn't yell…what had Hyde hit? He found himself annoyed at Skinner's invisibility. Swiftly blocking the exit, Hyde hit Skinner twice more, and on the last one, Hyde heard Skinner fall to the ground.

"_Just like old times!"_ Hyde shouted in Jekyll's mind, and Jekyll could only cringe. Hyde turned to the body, and hit it again with the cane, now intent on murder.

"_Wait! Wait, don't kill him!"_ Jekyll protested. "_He might have use to you!" _he added. Hyde knew that Jekyll was only resorting to this to keep Skinner alive by satisfying his darker half's violence.

"_Oh? Do tell, Henry"_ Hyde said, drawing the cane over his head again. He knew that he might even think of a legitimate reason, and that it would be easier to have Jekyll desperately searching for one instead of trying to weigh the pros and cons himself. In addition, it was simply more fun to make Jekyll panic.

"_He could be a hostage,"_ Jekyll replied, thinking on his feet. "_Just knock him out or paralyze him, and they'll never find him. You could make the rest of the League do _anything."

"_Or I could kill him and—"_ Hyde realized mid-sentence that he could not do that. As soon as Skinner was dead, he would be visible again. The body would be found.

Only somewhat annoyed that Jekyll had thought of it first but accepting it as a good idea, Hyde decided to take the advice. He rummaged through the cabinets, cross-referencing every formula and medication there with Jekyll's memories of what each meant. He picked out one that, in high dosages, would cause paralysis, and picked out an empty syringe. Filled it. Walked over to Skinner.

Jekyll, in a heroic but futile effort, tried for control. Hyde knew that Jekyll's control was already almost gone, but the formula rendered such an attempt completely useless, like bouncing off of a brick wall. Hyde chuckled at the attempt.

"_I will kill you later,"_ Hyde promised, knowing that the threat was futile. There was a split second nonetheless, where Jekyll felt a tinge of genuine fear. It passed quickly, but Hyde stored the feeling in his mind for further consideration…later.

Hyde stuck the needle into Skinner's arm, and depressed the plunger. The fluid was visible for a small amount of time as it started coursing down his veins…and then vanished. "_Now, where do you think I ought to store the body?"_ Hyde asked rhetorically.

"_You could put him anywhere,"_ Jekyll said. "_Middle of the floor? In my room on the bed? They would never—"_

_"You know we need to find a place where they wont stumble across him."_ Hyde already had a place in mind, and didn't much care what Jekyll had to say. Nonetheless, it was an immensely powerful feeling to be conversing with his hostage while he ruined Jekyll's life.

Hyde unwound the bandages, and felt Jekyll observing Skinner. It seemed that none of his wounds had torn, or if they had, it had not shown yet.

Hyde roughly threw Rodney over his shoulder and started down the hall. He could feel some sticky fluid on his shoulder, something that felt like blood. No one passed him, and he found a small room that had obviously been intended to be a broom closet but stood vacant. A shelf, pointlessly high, remained empty.

In an incredible display of strength, Hyde wedged himself between the two side walls and moved up several feet, still balancing Skinner on his shoulder, and stashed him on the shelf.

"_Think they'll find him there?"_ Hyde asked cheerfully.

"_No,"_ Jekyll answered. The sound was a perfect mixture of truthfulness and despair.

"_Now, let's go find your lady love,"_ Hyde said.

"_Mina's immortal,"_ Jekyll said, and it sounded like he was trying to sound confident. "_You can't harm her."_

"My," Hyde said aloud. "You don't know me well, do you?"

It was dark, and no one walked the corridors. Hyde, cane in hand, wandered through the rooms, deftly knocking things over, smashing things, denting things, and generally creating a ruckus. He grabbed some bread from the kitchen and ate it as he started destroying everything he could get his hands on in there.

"_Don't they ever feed you?"_ Hyde grumbled, but did not linger long in the kitchen. When he went out into the hallway again, the ship woke up, and again, crewmen were the first to find him. Hyde threw his cane at him, only narrowly missing.

The crewmember ran off to find Nemo. Hyde, undisturbed, continued his path of destruction, whistling as he did so. Jekyll seemed to have given up on terror and panic, and watched the proceedings quietly. Hyde wandered the ship, not ducking into any room that did not have another door leading out.

Hyde was in the hallway when Sawyer and Mina appeared together, Sawyer carrying a gun and Mina's eyes glowing demonically. Mina wore a nightgown and her hair was mussed as if she had just woken up, and although Sawyer was dressed and alert he had rings under his eyes. Both looked tired, but both obviously prepared for a fight.

"Who're…" Sawyer started, his gun dropping slightly.

"Hyde," Mina said with conviction. She started towards him.

"Quite right, Mina," Hyde said. "But I do not advise attacking. I have Skinner, and he will die if I leave him where he is for long. Or even for more than, say, half an hour."

"_What are you talking about?"_ Jekyll asked. Hyde couldn't believe that his hostage was still trying to interfere with his work. He decided to use it against Jekyll. Who knew, perhaps after what might happen, Jekyll would blame himself.

"_I didn't want to have to do this,"_ Hyde lied, "_But you brought this upon yourself."_

Mina had stopped walking. Hyde heard a slight movement from behind him, and glanced over his shoulder to find Nemo, sword drawn, and Hyde turned sideways so that he could address all three of them.

"Ah, Nemo. I trust you understand the position you are in, in regards to Skinner, that is."

Nemo did not answer him, but did not attack either. He instead turned to one of his crewmembers, and started speaking instructions in his strange dialect. Hyde felt a tinge of suspicion, but allowed him to continue when he heard the word "Skinner." They wanted to look for the man? Fine. They would not find him.

"What do you want?" Sawyer asked, his emotions strangely unreadable.

Hyde slowly pointed his finger at Mina, a lecherous grin creeping across his face.

"_You bastard!" _Jekyll shouted suddenly as he understood what Hyde wanted. "_Don't you fucking _dare_—" _But Hyde cut off Jekyll's mental voice…something that he hadn't known that he could do previously.

"_It was your idea to use Skinner as leverage,"_ Hyde said. He could still feel Jekyll's hate, strong as ever, but it was somewhat muffled, as if the man was spitting curses through a gag.

Perfect.

Mina's eyes and stature returned to normal, as she seemed to finally comprehend that no amount of physical fighting would help the situation. "What are your terms, Mr. Hyde?" she asked coldly.

"Wait," Sawyer interjected. "Just because Skinner's not here doesn't mean that he's kidnapped." Tom leveled his rifle again. "Or in danger."

"You forget I have another hostage," Hyde responded, smiling. "Your beloved Dr. Jekyll. Not doing so well by now…might even be dying."

Sawyer let his gun drop again, admitting that he would not harm Jekyll.

"As for Skinner," Hyde continued, "Either he got away after I escaped from those pathetic ropes you tied, and I clearly predicted that he would stand by and do nothing besides watch me use his absence as leverage, or I do actually have him."

"He has blood on him," Mina said quietly to Tom. "I can smell it, but I don't see it."

Nemo edged to join Sawyer and Mina, and said something quietly to them. Hyde could not make it out in its entirety…but he distinctly heard the words "would be better," "safer to assume," and "follow his terms for now." As they talked, the blood on Hyde's shoulder was turning visible. Hyde wondered if any of the blood had gotten onto the floor, leading directly to the closest. Well, hope for the best. He couldn't have been bleeding that badly from a blunt instrument.

"Your terms, then, Mr. Hyde," Mina said again.

"My terms, then," Hyde repeated. "If Mina here would accompany me into an empty room with a lock and bed, then I'd be happy to let you all have Skinner back."

Mina look repulsed, but it was, surprisingly, Nemo and Sawyer who looked as though they were trapped. Perhaps because they had no say in the decision…Hyde didn't care much why they looked that way, only that they did.

"If I do this…despicable act," Mina began after a pause, "then how do we know that you will give us Skinner back?"

"I guess you're just going to have to trust me," Hyde responded. "You'll find him pretty soon one way or another though…didn't you say that he would turn visible shortly after death? I'd say you have twenty-seven minutes now."

Hyde waited for her response. He could feel Jekyll's dread, and saw similar expressions on the faces of the other two men. Would she call his bluff? Hyde did not know how well Mina cared for the man, if she would really be willing to—

"Very well," she said. While she had previously made eye contact with every word she had spoken to Hyde, this time she let her gaze drop.

"Madam," he said, offering out his arm in a deliberately ghoulish parody of a gentleman. She grimaced, and behind her Sawyer wore an expression of open shock, which suddenly hardened when he noticed that Hyde was looking at him.

"_Skinner was right,"_ Hyde said privately to Jekyll. "_Either he's dead crazy or that's the same look Quatermain had."_

Jekyll, who had previously been trying his best to ignore the events as they unfolded, suddenly tried to see what Hyde was talking about. Hyde turned his gaze away from Sawyer just as suddenly, and Mina took his arm.

As the two started walking away from Sawyer and Nemo, who did not move behind them, Hyde was grateful for the first time that Jekyll was inside of his head. Otherwise, the second his back was turned he would have been a dead man. Perhaps he would have perished even before that. But, then again, if Jekyll had not been there, Hyde wouldn't have needed to do this in the first place. This was, basically, essentially, a chance to take a bit of power.

Hyde realized suddenly that he didn't know exactly where he was going. He decided for the familiar: Jekyll's room.

They walked, arm in arm, Hyde feeling triumphant as Jekyll raged fruitlessly in his cage. He could hear Tom and Nemo, talking quietly but fervently behind him. There was silence as the pair walked away from Sawyer and Nemo, and a minute later, they approached Jekyll's room. Hyde swept the door open for her, ushering her inside. He slammed the door behind him.

"Take your clothes off," he said crudely. He felt Jekyll, still raging with effort that Hyde did not think that the sick man would be able to muster.

"_Save your energy,"_ Hyde said as Mina, glaring at Hyde, started unbuttoning her blouse. "_You aren't going to want to miss this."_

_"Damn you Edward, why are you doing this?"_

Hyde did not answer, knowing that it was almost entirely to hurt Jekyll…and for his own fun, which he seemed to have precious little of since he had gotten on this infernal ship. Soon enough Mina stood, stark naked, in front of him.

"Take down your hair."

She did so. Her eyes never turned away, but retained a glaring eye contact.

"_Quite a looker, eh Henry?" _Hyde prodded his alter ego. Jekyll tried not to see, not to disgrace Mina further, but Hyde carefully directed his eyes over her body.

"_Stop," _Jekyll said. His rage had turned nearly-silent.

"Get on the bed," Hyde instructed Mina. It was her face that caught Jekyll's attention. It was flushed, but showed no signs of shame. Only anger. In response to Jekyll's heartening discovery that Mina seemed neither afraid nor ashamed, Hyde removed his shoes and dropped his pants. Mina looked at him from where she lay.

"You are lucky that you share a body with one I care about," Mina said hatefully, "Or you would be out a member."

"_No,"_ Jekyll said quietly, almost to himself._ "Mina, kill him, kill me too if you have to."_

_"Pity she can't hear you,"_ Hyde replied. He leaned over Mina. "Your beloved Henry is watching," he whispered in her ear. "And he's not doing a damn thing to stop me."

"_Liar!"_ Jekyll shouted. He struggled harder against his chains, pounding, thrashing…and Hyde's finger involuntarily twitched. The movement had been Jekyll's.

The movement was minute, but the implications were enormous. Jekyll couldn't have control…not when he was under the formula. Impossible! Mina, on the bed, opened an eye as Hyde stared at his hand.

Jekyll had also been surprised by the movement, and actually stopped struggling for a second. Hyde shook it off. Jekyll had been fighting as if for his life, and if all he could manage was a twitch, then he certainly couldn't interfere with Hyde in a meaningful way. Hyde returned to Mina, and although Jekyll continued fighting, he was unable to do anything about Hyde as he started the rape.

He could feel Jekyll trying not to watch, and deliberately forced him to. Mina's body healed as fast as Hyde could destroy it, and she kept her eyes closed. Hyde imagined her thinking of Skinner, reminding herself why she was doing this. It didn't matter. This really had very little to do with her.

Jekyll never once stopped speaking, trying to use his words as his last weapon. "_Let her go! She's done you nothing."_

Begging.

_"Please, just please, for God's sake, let her go!"_

Compromising.

_"I'll do what you want! I'll let you out every week!_ _I'll never fight you!"_

Anger.

"_I can make your life a living hell too! I will find a way." _

All emotions flashed in minutes. Jekyll seemed to be reaching desperation.

Her rape seemed to last a lot longer than it must have. Hyde maintained the delicate balance of forcing Jekyll to watch and inflicting pain on Mina, who had now closed her eyes and waited for it to stop. Hyde really had little focus left over to enjoy what he was doing.

The lady had shown none of Jekyll's whirling emotions. She remained quiet, calm, even as dignified as the circumstances allowed. "_Please, stop,"_ Jekyll begged while Mina didn't.

And mostly to shock them, Hyde did stop for a minute. Mina slowly opened her eyes to a squint, and then opened them entirely as Hyde stood up.

"Turn over," he instructed. "On your stomach." He grabbed a paperweight, returned to the bed, and started again. Staring at the back of her head, he slowly raised the paperweight, and brought it down hard. Blood spattered, and she died instantly. The murder was extraordinarily successful; Hyde had never killed any of the prostitutes before with a single hit. He left the paperweight gaping in her head, and it took her regenerating cells nearly a minute to push it out so that Mina could come back to life. By then, Hyde had finished, the rush of the climax just starting to end.

"Where is Skinner?" she asked as she covered herself with the sheets.

"We're not done just yet," Hyde replied offhandedly. He glanced at a wall clock, pretended to calculate. "We still have another thirteen minutes."

"_Stop," _Jekyll said._ "I'll…I'll tell you what was on the blackboard. Just don't hurt her any more."_

"_You have two seconds,"_ Hyde replied eagerly. It was almost defiantly going to be something that was going to be to his advantage, given the way that Jekyll had hid it from him.

"Why are you doing this?" Mina said from the bed as she stared at the ceiling, oblivious that Hyde was talking to Jekyll.

"_I rewrote out the formula for my potion,"_ Jekyll explained, hesitated only a split-second, and allowed Hyde to access what Jekyll had found out on the board, to see the equations and chemical drawings that he had written. "_Basically, the separation between us is now so complete that it is likely that you are going to survive if I die."_

"What is it that you want?" Mina asked.

Hyde realized the enormous amount of implications that Jekyll's formula now offered him. He could really kill Jekyll if he could just lower his immune system enough, and then…

Free at last.

Hyde felt a second rush of power within him, but this one was mental instead of physical. It took him a moment to realize that it was mostly the feeling of the formula, now spent, reverting him back to Jekyll. In a silent moment, Jekyll was in power again, feverish, shivering, dizzy, and aching all over. Blood already started to pour from his nose and ears.

"Chains," was the first thing he said. "Get chains."

"That's not what I was asking, and besides, you already have—"

"No. No, Mina, it's me," Jekyll said. Embarrassed, he stepped into his pants. "Hyde is gone. He will be back, and he will stop at nothing. He has the power to kill me. Mina…" he grabbed her hand, she pulled it back sharply. "Mina, I'm so sorry."

Edward laughed at the irony. Jekyll had given him the information to keep Mina from discomfort, but the formula would have cut him off in the nick of time, anyways. Hyde was back in the cage again, but already, it was weakening. And the next time he would be out…he could stay out. Forever.


	18. Chapter 17—Nemo

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN—Nemo

His first priorities were, of course, Mina and Skinner. The second was the state of his ship.

The former two, Nemo could do nothing about. The woman was courageous and had heart, and hopefully knew what she was doing, and a search had begun for Skinner. So instead, Nemo had cautiously instructed that a small number of his staff clean up. A larger group stood idle, but was ready for whatever was to come next. The remaining portion of the crew looked for Skinner, checking first the places that put him in immediate danger, and then the places near the medical room. Handcuffs and chains had been prepared and lay, ready, in the next room over. If they found Skinner…Nemo felt prepared to kill the man inside who had tried to harm his crew, who had performed such a despicable upon Mina…

Nemo and Sawyer waited outside of the door. Sawyer had let Quatermain lend him a spine for him when it mattered, but had been nervous and fidgety since he and Nemo had been waiting outside. He had been pacing back and forth, toying with his gun, even muttering aloud.

Nemo felt an urge to start pacing, and was mildly surprised at the notion. He'd long ago been cured of nervous habits, or so he thought. He prepared himself for the battle that might come. He reminded himself that he could not kill Hyde, but must be prepared to restrain him in an instant.

Surprisingly little noise came from inside the room for the fifteen minutes that they were in there. There was the muffled sound of speech and several loud thumps, but overall—

Without warning, the door burst open and a figure fell out. Nemo did not immediately recognize who it was, Jekyll or Hyde, only that the man wore Jekyll's clothing. The figure collapsed, and Sawyer and Nemo both caught him, each grabbing an arm in case the figure turned violent.

"Sawyer. Nemo," the voice said, now recognizably belonging to Jekyll. Nemo felt his feverish skin through his shirt. "We don't have much time. Skinner is…in a broom closet near the medical room. On a shelf several feet above head level, paralyzed. Hyde…he hurt him. Badly."

Nemo saw Sawyer nervously glancing back into the room. "Attend to the lady," Nemo said, and a half-second later he bore Jekyll's weight almost entirely on his own. He turned to a crewmember, who had moved in to help.

"Skinner is in a broom closet near the medical room," he said, making the switch in languages. "On a shelf a few feet above head level. He is paralyzed. Find him, get him down, and place him on a bed or couch. Do not put him in the medical room; that will be in use."

Nemo saw a pool of blood on the floor, and realized that it was coming from Dr. Jekyll, whose nose was bleeding profusely. Nemo quickly helped Jekyll stand up strait, and tilted his head back.

"There's no time," Jekyll said. "If he comes back…if Hyde…he can…he will kill me. He can do that. He will still live. He must be watched carefully, at least until I recover. If I recover."

Nemo wasn't sure if Jekyll was delirious, but Jekyll knew more about his own condition than anyone else, and his rare stance of authoritativeness did not seem to stem from madness, but from his own medical knowledge. Nemo motioned for his crew to grab the chains, and during the second his back was turned, he heard a loud thump behind him. He turned and saw that Jekyll had leaned heavily against the wall, and slipped down to the ground.

Chains were strung around Jekyll's arms and back, and Nemo had one of his crew hold Jekyll's arms behind him as Jekyll was led to the medical room. They didn't get far before Jekyll fell to his knees and vomited. What came out was black, and Nemo suddenly realized that it was blood. Briefly, automatically considering what stomach acid would do to the floor, he returned his attention to Jekyll.

"Jekyll, do you know what disease you have?" Nemo asked. Wondering if this was the last opportunity he could have to speak to Jekyll and trust what he said.

"'t doesn't matter," he said weakly. "I—no, stop it!" Jekyll thrashed violently against his chains. Nemo gestured for his crewmembers to start moving again, and Jekyll was roughly tugged to his feet and continued walking.

The medical room loomed into view minutes later. Hyde seemed to have given up the battle, at least temporarily. Jekyll practically collapsed into the bed, and did not resist as his feet were chained through a loop under the bed, his hands unchained just so that each wrist could be handcuffed to a separate corner of the bed.

"Jekyll, what disease do you have?" Nemo insisted, even more urgently.

"He…he wont let me tell…threatens me…doesn't matter…" Jekyll mumbled, closed his eyes as if he were about to go to sleep.

"Can he hear what is going on now?" Nemo asked him. "Can he hear me?"

"Can…he…" Jekyll's voice was weak and confused.

"Hyde," Nemo said insistently. "Hyde, can he hear me now?"

"Yes," Jekyll mumbled, his eyes drifing open again. "He can hear you. Already, he's fighting…"

"I have a message for him." Nemo touched Jekyll's shoulder, and looked into his eyes. His eyes and the skin around them were yellowing, and had flecks of blood spattered near them. "Hyde, if Jekyll dies, then I will personally kill you."

Jekyll weakly smiled. "That'll work," he said sincerely. "He's…he loves…" His face, still covered in blood, suddenly was wracked with pain. "Tell Mina I'm sorry," he said. "Oh god, so sorry," and fell unconscious.

Nemo appreciated the silence by starting to calculate. Two of the league was injured and one violated in a way that one should never be. Jekyll and Mina were the only doctors, and Skinner had already been injured before Hyde had damaged him.

Sawyer, then, was the only one to depend on. Even if he was entirely crazy and hallucinating about Quatermain, he still was able to behave in a rational and sane way. And if his hallucinations gave him strength, there was no problem at all.

Nemo was grateful that Sawyer was taking care of Mina. He was not sure that he could have. He turned his attentions to Jekyll and Skinner. Nemo did not want to leave Jekyll, but Skinner was possibly gravely injured. There was nothing he could do for Jekyll, although he really wished to be present when Hyde woke up, so as to reinforce his message that if Jekyll died, he died.

Nemo started out of his revere when he realized that his crew was watching him expectantly. Treated him as a god, these men did! Nemo found it more blasphemous than flattering, but used it nonetheless to ascertain loyalty. He addressed the group.

"Does anyone speak English?"

None did in the immediate group.

"Find two of the crew who speak English," Nemo addressed one of the crew. "Have them stay in the medical room and watch Jekyll…or Hyde, whoever comes back. Tell them to remind Hyde that if Jekyll dies, Hyde will be killed."

The crewman bowed, and immediately walked out of the room, stopping others of the crew, asking about their linguistic skills.

Nemo, knowing that there were relatively few of the crew who spoke English fluently, addressed another of the crew, and told him to watch Jekyll until two of the crew went in to replace him.

Nemo swept out of the room, and addressed one of the crew who he had assigned to search for Skinner.

"Where is Skinner?" Nemo asked another of his staff. "Have you found him?"

"We found him. We put him on the couch in the library," he replied. "He's not moving or speaking, but he breaths and his heart beats."

"Good. Get me two buckets of water, a cup, a towel, some flour, and some wound dressings, and bring it to the library," Nemo instructed as he started off the library himself, already starting to feel more on top of the situation. "Oh, and bring a pair of pants, too."

"Pants?"

"Yes." Skinner would not need a shirt of any kind; his body was already grievously injured.

Nemo entered the library, but didn't immediately see a body. He then harshly reminded himself that Skinner was, obviously, invisible. Feeling more tired than ever, he started looking for other signs, and quickly saw a depression in one of the couches, where a trickle of dried blood led down an invisible form. It had probably been there a while. Nemo briefly considered being angry with his crew for leaving him here alone, but realized the hectic nature of the situation and so late at night had probably scattered their brains.

Most of what Nemo knew of anatomy derived from his years of martial arts and his personal deep meditations, feeling where the heart was and how the lungs flowed. He knew very little else. Nemo listened to Skinner's breathing and heartbeat. Both seemed regular, or at least regular enough.

Two crewmen entered, one with a bucket of water at hand, a cup and a roll of bandages in the other and a towel over his shoulder. Another carried a pair of pants, a bucket of water in one hand, and a flour sack on his shoulder. Nemo nodded his thanks, and threw the pair of pants over the back of the couch for Skinner's future use. Quietly mourning his couch, Nemo drew water from one of the buckets in a cup, and carefully poured it over Skinner's form. It formed a temporary bubble where he poured it, and Nemo caught several glimpses of the damage that had been done. He then scattered flour over Skinner's body so that he could see its form and see what he could do for him. He carefully applied the flour to Skinner's head by hand, avoiding his eyes, which he suspected, but could not check and see, were open.

Nemo set the remaining supplies behind the couch for future use as he examined the damage. Skinner had three long bruises on his body. One was severe, and had developed slightly below his neck. Another was on his ribcage, not as swollen as the first but leading over his burns, tearing parts of it open. The last did nothing more than bruise his shin. Skinner, too, had a large knot on the side of his head. All appeared inconvenient and painful, but not fatal. And now Nemo could clearly see the rise and fall of Skinner's chest, and monitor Skinner for—

Movement. There was a light sound, coming from the couch. Nemo realized that Skinner's right index finger was stirring slightly.

"I see the drugs are starting to wear off," Nemo said. Skinner did not respond, but his finger slowly moved again. "Can you speak?" Nemo asked. No answer, which Nemo took to either be a "no"…or Skinner could not hear Nemo.

"One tap for yes, two taps for no," Nemo said, remembering vaguely reading something about a similar incident somewhere.

Tap tap.

"You can hear me, but cannot speak yet."

Tap.

"Are you in pain?"

Tap.

Nemo winced, but not knowing what drugs to administer to combat pain, continued his medical questioning the best he could.

"You have been struck once on your chest, once on your ribcage, once on your leg, and once on your head. Some of your burns have broken open." Nemo felt somewhat ridiculous, playing doctor as such, but understood the pressing necessity. "Is there anywhere else that is injured?"

Tap. Skinner's entire hand had started to move, twitching, opening and closing, not in any sort of signal, but seemed to be shaking off the paralysis.

"Tap when I reach it, then. Is it on your head?"

Pause, no tap.

"Neck? Chest? Stomach? Arm? Hand? Finger? Leg? Feet? Toe?"

Tap at the last one.

"Your toe?"

Affirmative tap.

If he wasn't about to die from it, Nemo decided to leave it alone. Skinner's forearm had started to move also, and Nemo saw that his left hand had started moving. Skinner's lips twitched slightly, opened, and closed. A mumble escaped him, something incomprehensible.

Skinner waited a moment, and tried again. More incomprehensible gurgling, but his arms, and now legs, were twitching. Moving. Nemo decided to wait until he was operational again before worrying about washing off the flour and applying the bandages. Skinner almost certainly knew more about them than Nemo did.

Skinner tried speaking again, and words came out. Slurred from the drugs, but words nonetheless. "Sumun…ah the shih…dunno oo…" Nemo turned this over in his mind once before deciphering it. _'Someone on the ship, don't know who…'_

"We know," Nemo responded. "That was Hyde. We have already suppressed him."

"ta didn loo la 'im." _'That didn't look like him.'_

"We are not sure why his appearance has changed."

"Is…eh-nee un ulse urt?" _'Is anyone else hurt?'_

Nemo considered how to answer that, and then realized that his prolonged silence probably was implying death; which was something far different than he intended. "Jekyll is very sick, of course, and Mina was…" He tried to find a way to finish his sentence in a tactful but direct fashion when one of the crew came running in.

"Nemo, Hyde thrashes against his chain and demands to speak to you. He says that he will kill Jekyll if you do not come." Nemo switched his mindset and speech from English to Indian.

"Has he been told—"

"They have told him what you told us to! He threatens it still!"

"Watch Skinner until he can get up on his own," Nemo said. Then, in English to Skinner, "Jekyll's in trouble. Stay here."

Skinner mumbled some response, but Nemo didn't have time to decipher it. He'd been expecting Hyde to sleep longer. Hopefully, Mina would be back on her feet soon—the ship badly needed a physician. Nemo moved to attend to the situation. He was not good with beaten patients or rape victims…but cold threats in hostage situations he could do.


	19. Chapter 18—Jekyll’s room

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN—Jekyll's room

Mina had not said anything to Sawyer when he had entered. When he had handed her the clothing that she had neatly folded in a pile and turned away, she had gotten dressed and ignored Sawyer's several attempts at starting communication. Blood coated the sheets from the murder, and most of Mina's head and shoulders. Instinctively, Sawyer wanted to clean it off and examine the wound, but he knew that it would be gone by now.

"Jekyll told us where to find Skinner," Sawyer offered. "They've probably found him by now."

"He could be dead," Mina said harshly. She stared at a wall, and tried hard not to think.

"He was in a closet. He's probably fine."

"Then I did this for nothing."

"Mina…" Sawyer sat next to her, gently touched her shoulder. She swept his hand off; he continued anyways. "What you did was incredibly brave. Skinner owes you his life."

Mina did not respond. She gazed at her surrounding, reflected on how unreal they looked. Jekyll really didn't have many material items, but the few he did have seemed to only be illusions…as if in a dream.

"Are you in pain?" Sawyer asked mainly to break the silence. "I mean, has your wounds healed?"

"He raped me and then he murdered me. How do you think I feel?"

Sawyer awkwardly moved in to hug her, but she shoved him back and stood up.

"Don't touch me," she said. The order was quite, but suddenly all of her focus was in this room, in this command.

"_What do I do?"_ Sawyer quickly consulted Quatermain, who had been silent for most of the ordeal.

_"Bloody hell, I have no idea. Lift her self-esteem or something."_

Sawyer was frustrated that Allan didn't have all the answers, but took what little advice he had on the situation. "Mina, you are still essential to the team. You are smart and beautiful—"

"Hyde obviously thought so, too. That I was beautiful."

Mina sat down on the end of the bed. She blocked out as much sensory input as she could and tried to pull herself together. Sawyer was only trying to help. Physically, she was fine. If she broke down, then that monster Hyde had won.

A sound was heard at the door. Mina did not turn around, but Sawyer did, and saw Skinner standing at the doorway, coated in flour paste and clad only in some pants. He leaned heavily against the doorway, obviously out of breath. His bruises and burns visibly showed, and Sawyer realized that this was the most of Skinner that he had ever seen, with most of Skinner's body usually covered in his trench coat. He could clearly see, for the first time since Skinner's injuries, the direction his head faced, and the ghostly smile that played upon his lips as he caught sight of Mina drenched in blood. Sawyer winced, suspecting Skinner was drunk, when he heard Skinner's noticeably slurred speech.

"Well, I've 'eard of messy eaters, but really now—"

Several things happened in quick succession. Mina started crying, the first time since the entire ordeal. Rodney realized that he had made a mistake, and Sawyer stood up and started walking towards him.

Sawyer and Quatermain both grew frenzied. "_That son of a bitch," _Sawyer thought._ "Who the hell does he think he is to be—after what she just did for him!" _

_"I have _had_ it with this man!"_ Quatermain thought. "_Running around drinking in a crisis! Tom, if you don't murder him—!"_

Skinner held up both of his hands and took an awkward step back. "I…I didn' mean—"

Mina heard a loud thump behind her, and caught a glimpse of Sawyer holding his forearm against Skinner's throat. Skinner was backed into a wall in the hallway, wincing his back away from the wall, which aggravated his burns.

"_He's right,"_ Mina thought. "_I need a shower."_

"You son of a bitch!" Sawyer yelled in Skinner's face. A pause, and a quieter tone followed, as if he didn't want Mina to hear. "Do you realize what she has just done for _you?_ Put up with for _you?_" He was speaking at a normal volume, but none of the intensity had left. He was still shouting.

"No, bloody 'ell Sawyer, I 'ave no idea," Skinner said, sounding confused and scared, with a dash of protest. "I was jus' trying to find out where Nemo went—"

"Listen," Sawyer said. His voice then turned even quieter, inaudible to Mina (who was too discouraged to tune in to her demonic sharpness) and sounded dangerous.

"_Stop crying,"_ Mina willed herself. She managed to stop sobbing, but could not stop the tears from trickling down her cheek.

"Mina," Skinner came in a moment later, limping heavily over his broken toe. "Mina, I'm sorry, I 'ad no idea—"

Mina didn't say anything to him, or even look up. She was still caught half an hour ago, still replaying the scene over and over in her mind. "His eyes were yellow," Mina said quietly.

"Whose?" Sawyer asked. "Jekyll or…" he didn't quite dare to say Hyde's name in Mina's presence.

Mina considered how to answer the question. The color had seemed nearly demonic, and thus seemed to fit naturally with Hyde…however, she could only truthfully answer—

"Jekyll. His eyes. After he turned back."

"_And he was worried about his own sweet self, sure," _Mina thought. "_He said that Hyde would kill him, well what about me? He didn't do anything to stop Hyde. Did he…enjoy that? Why did he run as soon as he was free?"_

Sawyer, who stood inside near the doorway, fell back against the wall, caught in a revelation of Quatermain's, who had recognized the symptoms for the disease that they were.

"I've got it," Sawyer said, standing up as he channeled for Quatermain. "All the symptoms…he has Yellow Fever! Why the hell didn't I see it before?"

"We don't know which symptoms are his," Mina said. Although she didn't want to talk about either Jekyll or Hyde, she found comfort in the logistics and sound reason of diagnosis.

"But I do! I didn't get a chance to tell you because you were asleep, but he wrote out a list of symptoms on his blackboard the night after he got out and went crazy in the drawing room. He had two lists of symptoms, one which reflected his disease, and one which reflected Hyde's generated symptoms. The cough, faintness, and attempted suicide was all Hyde's doings. The fever, headache, back pain, nosebleeds…those were his."

"The symptoms manifested only hours after his encounter with the mosquitoes," Mina said. "Not three to six days, as is typical."

"I don't know why that is, but good god, that _is_ Yellow Fever. If his eyes are yellow, then he might not make it by now. He's only got half a chance at that stage."

Skinner saw that Mina was too caught up in her own troubles and the medicine to realize whom she was speaking to. Sawyer, though young and optimistic, was most certainly not a medical genius. So…did he actually have Quatermain in his head after all? And if so, how would he know the precise symptoms of Yellow Fever?

"There's no precise cure," Sawyer said, "but I've seen some miraculous recoveries from bloodletting."

"You haven't seen anything," Mina said, suddenly realizing whom she was talking to. "You're an American…you've probably been vaccinated against it."

"Yellow Fever is rampant in Africa," Sawyer responded.

Mina didn't respond. She looked merely exasperated, but secretly felt that she didn't want to deal with this. Rodney, surprisingly, said nothing. Although he was glad that Sawyer at last admitted it out loud to someone besides himself, he was too caught up in his blunder a few minutes ago to gloat or make a comment.

Mina considered the information of Jekyll's illness, and her mind turned darker. Bloodletting was a controversial practice, and she certainly didn't have enough medical training to evaluate its effectiveness…but it was something that Harker, like Sawyer, had seen used before with extraordinary success. Mina knew that science couldn't seem to agree on it, but what she did know was that she was thirsty, she was angry, and…

"I've been immunized," she said quietly.

It was time to hurt that son of a bitch.


	20. Chapter 19—Mina Harker

CHAPTER NINETEEN—Mina Harker

Vampirism could be a terrible, terrible curse, but it did have its benefits. Mina knew that she had been overcome by her demon side, but also knew that she needed to let it happen. The weak human Mina had backed off and was watching the proceedings, rooting for the death of Hyde, knowing at least that intense pain was forthcoming. Not her intense pain, oh no! That had vanished soon after the vile deed as her body healed itself. But the intense pain that she was about to inflict was upon a mortal.

Skinner and Sawyer both asked where she was going, and both tried to follow her, suspecting her plan. Skinner quickly fell behind, but Sawyer kept right up with her. He looked childishly confused, but determined as well.

"Mina…Mrs. Harker, you can't do anything medical in anger!"

Sawyer? Quatermain? Who knew? And really, what relevance did it have anyways? Mina ignored him entirely as she focused on her thirst. Although it had been partially quenched just a few days ago, she felt thirsty again for human blood.

Mina moved faster and faster, and realized soon enough that Sawyer couldn't keep up anymore. The wind rushed around her as she moved with demonic speed, and she was in the medial room in an instant.

"…and if you—" Nemo had been speaking threateningly to Hyde, but Mina's presence was announced as a gust of wind followed her in, creating a dramatic whoosh and papers fluttered to the ground from the tables and counters. Both Hyde and Nemo looked up, wearing identical expressions of shock. Both quickly concealed their emotions.

"Mrs. Harker," Nemo said. "Ah, what brings you here?"

"Medical reasons, captain Nemo, as you undoubtedly have noticed, I am the only doctor in the ship and this man," Mina gestured to Hyde, "Is very sick. I must ask you to leave so that I may treat him."

"Mina, you're not in control," Nemo said. "I can't leave you alone with him."

"Then watch," Mina spat. She turned to Hyde. "Yellow Fever? That's what you were so determined to hide from us?"

"Ah, Mina, back for more? Couldn't even get cleaned up before you just had to see me again?"

Mina was at his side in an instant. She felt her face flushing with excitement as her fangs grew. "Bloodletting, Mr. Hyde, is a widely-practiced and well-renowned aid to curing blood-born diseases."

A brief pause before he responded. "Funny, Henry says it's entirely unsubstantiated."

Sawyer, panting heavily, stepped into the room.

"Sawyer, I require your assistance," Nemo said quietly to him. Mina knew he was trying to not let her hear him. She kept listening as she walked to the cabinet, looking for topical disinfectant. "I believe Mina is about to attack him or kill him."

"She might not be in the best state of mind," Sawyer responded just as quietly, "But she's right about the treatment. Bloodletting is effective and the best treatment we have."

Mina looked down on Jekyll, and although her human side saw only Jekyll looking back at her, her demonic side could smell Hyde's glee. She grabbed his head and roughly tilted it to the side as she swabbed his neck. As an afterthought, she swabbed her teeth.

"Why Mina, you're not going to suck my blood? Henry is now claiming that you're going to get the fever, too."

Mina didn't respond, and leaned closer into his neck, relishing the tinge of fear and confusion she could smell. Hyde pulled his shoulder up to cover his neck, and Mina pushed it back down again.

"Mina," Nemo said, taking a step forward. "Is he right?"

"She's said that she's immunized," Sawyer said to Nemo.

Hyde struggled momentarily with the chains, and Mina's teeth punctured into his neck. She sucked out the blood as fast as it came, and could feel the vein decompressing with the force. She twisted her teeth into the wound. Hyde shouted once in surprise…or pain. A moment later, his scent shifted, until it was Henry Jekyll she was leeching off of.

It didn't matter. The blood was still sweet, although it had shifted slightly in taste. She knew that the pain, still, would have been intense. A slow minute passed in silence, and the blood flow had slowed. Sawyer and Nemo had watched silently. "Mina," Jekyll finally managed to say.

"That's enough," Nemo said, stepping forward and touching her shoulder.

Mina did not stop. Did not feel able to. She dug more fervently into the wound in Jekyll's neck. Jekyll thrashed uselessly against the chains. And who was she hurting? The man who had hurt her or the man who cared for her? Was the one any less guilty than the other?

She heard Nemo's hand as it raced through the air and considered dodging or blocking it, but she vaguely realized what Nemo had said…she was out of control. Harming a man who had not hurt her. Unable to stop from trying to kill him. So she let Nemo hit her neck, hard, and felt herself fall to the floor.

"What'd I miss?" Skinner asked as he limped into the room.

Unconsciousness came next.


	21. Chapter 20—Medical room

CHAPTER TWENTY—Medical room

"_She knew that it was your fault," _Hyde said from the back of Jekyll's mind.

Jekyll heard, but did not respond.

"_Everything's your fault. That's why she didn't stop trying to kill you. When you were in front."_

Usually, Jekyll had trouble blocking out the voice which so clearly mirrored what he thought himself. Tonight, he closely focused on Hyde's power, which he could clearly feel draining away. Even though Jekyll had felt his body attempting to murder and rape those nearest to him less than two hours ago, and even though his life was in the hands of a known killer who hated him, Jekyll found the audacity to feel lucky. He just might live.

Shortly after the effects of the potion had worn off ands shortly before Mina had entered the room, Nemo had told Hyde, again, that he would kill him if Jekyll were to die.

"How will you know if the good doctor is gone?" Hyde had asked with a sneer.

"Because you would not hide him from us if we were to kill you if he were gone," Nemo had responded. " And Jekyll is strongly symptomatic; you are not. I will know if he is dead." Hyde had not understood the sentence, as his own peak of intelligence was slowly declining. Instead, he took Jekyll's reaction of understanding, and joy that Hyde was cornered, as confirmation. He understood that, for the first time in his freedom, he was entirely trapped. He was physically chained down with no access to the formula and forced to keep Jekyll's life for his own.

Jekyll had been watching, and was glad that he had told Nemo of Hyde's intense love of life.

"_Don't rejoice yet,"_ Hyde threatened._ "I can still kill you."_ Jekyll knew that Hyde's threats were empty; this notion was confirmed after Mina had been carried out of the room, when Nemo demanded to speak with Jekyll.

Hyde had balked until Nemo had coolly held his sword to his throat. "If Jekyll is alive," Nemo said, "You must produce him. Now. Or I will kill you."

A moment later, Jekyll had been thrust out in front. Bleeding a little bit less than he had previously, but the jaundice had returned to his face, and his temperature had immediately risen.

"Nemo, I—" Jekyll tried, but Hyde cut him off and took control again. Hyde knew that the knowledge that Jekyll was alive would spare him from dying, but that in no way meant that he needed to let the two _talk._

But that didn't matter. If Jekyll died, no bleeding, pitiful puppet could be produced for Nemo. Then, Hyde knew that he would be killed. Shortly after the incident, Jekyll's heart had stopped. Hyde had muttered a curse but grudgingly started it again.

Jekyll had started bleeding internally; Hyde had stopped it. Hyde's interventions had become less frequent as the night wore on and Jekyll's body started healing itself.

"1:00." Nemo's voice cut through the two's revere. Long after everyone else had gone to bed, Nemo sat up with the two, asking each hour to see if Jekyll was alive.

Hyde growled, but grudgingly thrust Jekyll out for only a moment. Jekyll felt a lurch of extreme dizziness before being returned to his mind.

"_I wonder why he's not keeping you in the back of my mind all the time,"_ Jekyll thought. His desire to regain control of his body overrode his desire to remain where he was, symptom-free.

"_Because he can't stand to stare at your face,"_ Hyde snapped.

Edward began talking with increasing urgency. He and Jekyll both knew that his power was fading. Each hour that Jekyll was called out, there had been a few less symptoms. By 2:00, his headache had gone away and his jaundice had disappeared. By 3:00, he had stopped bleeding.

The disease that had whipped through Jekyll's body like a hurricane was slowly fading, and Hyde couldn't do a thing about it. Hyde had pushed the disease to progress quickly and strongly, but it was now spent and fading fast.

Jekyll realized with a start that the two had reached an equilibrium in power, and so the body they inhabited couldn't move at all; when one tried, the other checked it.

This was more freedom that he had for over a week. Jekyll felt the strong urge to rip his body from the hands of the monster in his head, but was not quite able to do that. He tried again, tried to jerk his arm…Hyde checked it. Jekyll reminded himself, over and over, to be patient. It was far easier to concentrate on trying to move his arm than it was to reconsider what he'd done to Skinner, what he'd done to Mina…

4:00 came, and Hyde didn't thrust Jekyll out in front as much as he stopped struggling with Jekyll for control.

"_It's over,"_ Jekyll finally said. "_Edward, you're finished." _

Edward reacted violently against the proclamation, but was unable to do anything about it. After 4:00, Hyde could not regain control.

"Nemo," Jekyll said, and the speech was so natural. No censorship, no punishment, just what he wanted to say. "It's over. It's gone."

Nemo noted that Jekyll was still covered in sweat, but most of it was old. All his bleeding had stopped, leaving only some dry marks of blood under his nose, and his eyes and face had lost their yellow tinge, save the bruise under his eye, which had yellowed as it recovered. But how could he know if Hyde was really gone, pushed to the back of Jekyll's mind? Or, worse, what if this was this Hyde out in front, posing as Jekyll? Nemo finally saw the flaw in the plan that somehow the three of them had missed when he'd outlined it hours ago.

"I don't think the chains are necessary," Jekyll continued, having grown weary of lying flat on his back for hours on end.

"I think they are," Nemo replied.

Edward laughed at Jekyll's misfortune, but Jekyll did not wince away from the malicious laughter. In a bizarre way, he found the familiarity strangely comforting, especially since the sound no longer posed a danger to him.

"Why?" Jekyll asked.

"I don't know that you are yourself," Nemo replied. "It was discernable when the symptoms were present, but their absence could mean many things…either recovery has occurred or Henry Jekyll has died, or is still sick and is at the back of his own mind."

"That's…but…you watched me recover! It happened in stages!"

"You understand that any protests you give mean nothing."

Jekyll sighed. "You…you can't keep me here forever."

"No. Just for tonight."

Jekyll tried to sit up, and actually managed a semi-sitting position, struggling strongly with the chains. The one remnant of the disease that hadn't left was the dizziness from the blood loss, which made it that much harder to obtain a sitting position. Once up, his arms started to tingle as blood slowly started flowing back in to them. "You will not know any more tomorrow."

"I have a plan," Nemo responded off-handedly.

Jekyll lay down again, and awkwardly turned on his side, his left arm draped across his head. He tried to sleep, but each time the strange position he was in would jerk him awake. Nemo had stopped asking for confirmation each hour.

Jekyll felt his stomach growl. "I haven't had a decent meal in days," Jekyll said to Nemo. "And I've lost a lot of blood."

"I will have my crew get you something when they wake up."

Jekyll sighed, and spent the next hour feeling his arms go numb, occasionally twitching them to see if he could still move his fingers. He realized, much too late, that Nemo had lied. His crew was awake all hours, and even if they weren't, there had never been a problem with waking them up. Jekyll decided to say nothing about it…but why had Nemo lied?

Nemo spent the time deep in thought, but prepared to snap to attention at the slightest disturbance. He turned over his nearly complete plan in his mind, rechecking for flaws or weak points. It was not difficult to figure out that Hyde's stature was directly related to how much power he had. The reason why was unclear, and irrelevant. Hyde's time in London, as described by Robert Louis Stevenson, was where he had power over Jekyll, and was actually smaller than Jekyll. Paris; Hyde had taken his place behind Jekyll's new formula, and bulked up considerably. Then, as Hyde had regained control in Jekyll's sickness, he had shrunk again. Was it too much to assume that if Jekyll were in control again, Hyde would grow again? Nemo didn't think so. The only thing to do was to observe Hyde's appearance when he was physically out.

Set in his premises and allowing himself to take a step back from the problem, Nemo picked up a book and started reading it quietly, with a spare thought about how he shouldn't be so busy as to deny himself a book now and again.

Nearly an hour passed before a word was uttered.

"Um…" Jekyll began awkwardly, "I…need to use the restroom." Again, thinking about the ridiculousness of the situation, needing permission to go to the bathroom—just like being in grade school again.

Nemo pulled out the keys, and unfastened Jekyll's feet. "You will keep your hands where I can see them, and you will not make any sudden movements. If you try to run or fight, I will assume that Jekyll is dead, and appropriately kill the beast that is left in him."

"Really, this is unnecessary," Jekyll said insistently. When only his left hand was cuffed, Nemo drew his sword and held it at his throat.

"I don't think so, and if you are Jekyll, then you would know best of all why we must be certain."

Jekyll spent about thirty seconds on the bed, rubbing his arms and trying to get any sort of feeling back into them. He thought about what Nemo had said and consented, in his own mind, that if Hyde had killed him, he would want Hyde dead. Definitely. So he allowed Nemo to hold his sword at his throat, allowed him to lead him to the restroom, and tried not to blush when Nemo followed him inside, sword still at throat. He finished as quickly as he could, washed his hands, and allowed himself to be chained again.

From there, the night passed slowly, neither men sleeping, until dawn broke.

* * *

**Much appologies for the late update. This chapter was much more confusing before I clarified it slightly...amidst two AP tests and a day of lifeguard training. So, busy schedual, which shouldn't persist for too much longer. But seriously, if this chapter is the good version, you don't want to see what crap I was going to post. **

**Thank you to all of my reviewer! :)**


	22. Chapter 21—The Nautilus

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE—The Nautilus

"No…no more drugs…" Jekyll begged fruitlessly.

"Last time," Sawyer promised as he administered the shot.

Sawyer didn't let down his guard once Jekyll was asleep; he knew that Hyde could still hear. Maybe even see. Sawyer pulled out the black blindfold that Skinner used to sleep (his own, invisible eyelids useless against the light) and fastened that over Jekyll's face, along with a pair of noise-canceling ear plugs that he himself used when shooting for a particularly long time.

Sawyer carefully placed an identical pair of earplugs in his own ears, preparing to stop all operations if something happened that he (and by extension, Hyde) could hear. Both Jekyll and Hyde needed to be in the dark.

After that was set, he ushered in the group of Nemo's crew that had been waiting outside. Therein was his job, and he stood over Jekyll, carefully watching for signs of life or motion, talking idly with Quatermain in his mind, but both attentively watching Jekyll. If all went as planned, there would be a great deal of destruction in the medical room, most of which was avoidable. To avoid as much as they could, the crew started clearing out the cabinets and drawers of any sort of supplies or anything of remote value or danger. All of the medical supplies and items were transported to wheeled tables, and several loads were transferred in all.

Primary colors of food dye were taken out of the kitchen, and mixed in to water. The beakers that were already outside of the cabinets in the medical room had to be left where they were, lest Jekyll notice the missing liquids. It was imperative that everything appeared exactly the same when the man woke up, despite that they would be sacrificed soon after.

The original contents of the beakers were poured into labeled containers, and the beakers were replaced with the colored water.

Drills were plugged in and extension cords were brought in for spares. When Sawyer saw that the drills were about to start he tensed…but if it was because of Nemo's technology or the efficiency of the earplugs, he heard no noise at all. He was tempted to remove one of the earplugs to see exactly how much noise was being canceled.

_"You have one job,"_ Quatermain admonished him before he could do so. "_Do it right. Keep them in."_

Everything heavy was drilled into place. It was understood that everything left inside the room should be sacrificed, but maybe having a few of the heavier objects bolted into place couldn't hurt.

***

Nemo was tired, but no one would have known it by looking at his face or listening to his speech. His all-nighter didn't seem to have affected his mind, which still balanced all the factors of this equation. Was he doing right in keeping this from Jekyll? But in light of recent events, he decided that it was crucial that Jekyll go through with this, even though he may not have given his consent had he known what was coming. Nemo went to the kitchen to address the cooks. Hopefully, nothing more than a single glass of coffee would have to be made for the scheme to work.

***

Skinner entered Jekyll's room, and glanced around. Through a bizarre oversight of Nemo's usually meticulous spotless ship, Mina's blood had not been cleaned up yet. Skinner thought about Jekyll's morbid descriptions of having to clean blood from his clothes every time Hyde was out during his initial reign, and considered that Jekyll would probably have some sort of meltdown if he came back to his room to see all of the blood.

Skinner surprised himself by not feeling particularly compassionate towards the good doctor. In fact, he felt a bizarre sort of resentment towards Jekyll. After Skinner had taken the worst in Mongolia, he'd practically been a hero for a while. This time, after he'd been beaten to a pulp, he'd been checked over once by Nemo—Nemo of all people!—and sent on his way. Everyone was busy with Dr. Henry Jekyll. But that wasn't what Skinner was here for. Skinner pushed the self-pity out of his mind and got to work.

One of Mina's bobby pins in hand, he glanced around the room, searching. "It's 'is most closely guarded possession…where would 'e put it?" Rodney asked the empty room, and immediately checked under the bed. He awkwardly took a knee on the side that was not bruised, the one without the broken toe.

"There we are," he said, pulling out the case of the potion bottles. He toyed with the lock that Jekyll had recently put on it until it clicked open, and pulled out a vial of the formula.

"_Does_ look like blood," he murmured as he glanced at the red formula, and then went to join Nemo in the kitchen, passing the medical room's door—now being reinforced with bars of metal.

***

Mina longed to go to the top deck to get a breath of fresh air, but the Nautilus was submerged, and so she locked herself in her room instead. She had spent the past week in the library, trying to discover what Jekyll's disease was, eating and even sleeping there on occasion. But Jekyll's disease was now discovered, so her obsession of the past few days was forgotten.

Mina carefully recorded the past several days' events in her diary. She had time enough now. It was the best way she could convince herself that she wasn't avoiding the problem, but was trying to sort through it. She knew that she had been blaming Jekyll, which was not something she could do. It had been that monster Hyde. She needed to speak with Jekyll—if he was even alive— about the incident, and she only hoped that Nemo's plan, which had been briefly outlined to her, would go as expected.

***

Skinner limped into the kitchen with the vial and handed it to Nemo. Nemo nodded his thanks and continued speaking with the cook. Skinner's job now done, he wanted to see how things were going in the medical room, but was tired of walking, and decided to take a seat instead.

He didn't even know how his toe had broken, probably when he was being stuffed in that bloody closet. That alone would have discouraged him from walking; his occasional headaches didn't help, either. Really, he was a mess, and wondered why no one seemed to care.

***

The room was nearly prepared when Jekyll began to stir. Sawyer removed his own earplugs and raised both arms, the signal to cease construction and leave the room. Everything looked virtually the same as it had before construction had begun, but everything was safer now. Cabinets emptied, dangerous chemicals replaced with water, and heavy objects bolted if the bolts couldn't be seen. Hopefully, little would be broken in the proceedings.

Sawyer removed the blindfold and the earplugs from Jekyll, and one of the scarce English-speaking crewmen stood inside of the doorway, waiting for orders. The rest of the crew stood nearby outside, silent and fascinated. Two stood on either side of the door, with extension cords feeding off in opposite directions to their drills. They did not hold them up and ready, nor did they hold the screws to the wall. It was not quite time yet, but it could happen soon.

Jekyll struggled out from under the influence of the drugs, and into wakefulness. "Is it still today?" he asked cynically. "I've lost so much time…"

"It is," Sawyer responded.

"What were you guys doing?" Jekyll asked.

"Preparing," Sawyer responded. He knew that Jekyll knew that some sort of test was forthcoming, but not the nature of it or time it would occur. Hopefully, he had no idea that it would happen within minutes, within the very room. "Do you want something to eat before we get started?" Knowing that the answer would be yes. He was not disappointed.

"And some coffee," Jekyll added. Sawyer nodded his head at the English-speaking crewman, who left to get the coffee. Jekyll would not get a chance to eat for quite a while. In the meantime, Sawyer unfastened Jekyll's hands. If he had honestly been just been giving the man some food, he would have left his feet chained. But that wasn't the plan; serious damage could come upon Jekyll if he were left chained. So Jekyll was freed entirely, but Sawyer held a gun to his head.

"I suppose it would be pointless for me to tell you how unnecessary this is?" Jekyll asked as he tried to get feeling into his arms again.

"That's right," Sawyer said.

***

The crewman had gone to the kitchen, and a half-cup of coffee was poured into the cup, mixed with Jekyll's potion. The coffee had been brewed extremely strong, but its dilution made it look weak. No matter; some dye were mixed in, and it was sent back.

***

The crewman reentered the room with the coffee, Sawyer still having his gun trained on Jekyll. He handed Jekyll the coffee. Jekyll nodded his thanks, and the crewman left the room.

Jekyll almost took a sip. "_Don't drink it,"_ Hyde said. "_They're up to something."_

"_Fuck. You._" Jekyll responded, and chugged it. He realized as soon as it hit his mouth that it tasted funny, and when started burning down his throat he realized what had happened. It had been spiked with his own formula! He spat out as much as he could, but a little of it was already down his throat. Several seconds passed, and he wondered if it had been too little to prompt a transformation, before he felt his bones start to grind and shift. His eyes widened.

"Get out of here," he said to Sawyer, who had been backing towards the door as soon as Jekyll had taken his first swallow. At his words, Sawyer turned and ran out the door. Immediately, the crewmen outside drilled the door shut.

Jekyll convulsed on the bed, feeling the pain of transformation more strongly than he had the time previous. Jekyll was only aware of two things outside of the pain: Hyde was, naturally, gleeful that he had been right and that he would soon be free, and that the doorway was being sealed shut. Jekyll knew that they were doing his best to keep him contained, but quietly mourned that all of the medical supplies would soon be shattered and destroyed. This room, which had become a sort of home, would be decimated.

***

Mina had joined the crewman, hearing that it was starting, and knowing that if they couldn't contain Hyde, then she would be the only one with the strength to stop him. She saw that a narrow hole had been drilled into the wall, and that the crewmen were looking through, no doubt under Nemo's orders to note what Hyde looked like.

They allowed Mina through, and she glanced through the wall. Jekyll's thrashing and moaning had stopped, and a being stood in there. Hyde was huge and muscular…brutish. Which could only mean that Jekyll, without a doubt, was alive.

***

Jekyll was trapped inside of his own mind, where he swore himself he would never allow himself to be again. Even so, he analyzed the situation. They had probably done this for two reasons: to see what Hyde looked like (someone, probably Nemo, had noticed that Hyde's stature directly related to his level of control), and to ascertain that Jekyll still claimed to be in control directly after the transformation had wore off (when, in the previous week, he'd had the most power).

Hyde tried to force the door, but gave up after a while, and decided to wreak havoc within the room. He could no longer reason, but he could remember vaguely a plan he had devised, when he'd been a bit smaller but a whole lot smarter, for a combination of the chemicals that would create fire, even explosions. He went to the beakers, sniffed them tentatively…water! He threw open the cabinets. Empty! He broke off the cabinet door instead. He picked up a chair and hurled it against the door. Hyde slammed his body against the door, which hardly even bent outwards. Obviously reinforced.

"_Thought of everything, didn't they?"_ Jekyll muttered.

"_Nope,"_ Hyde said, and slammed his fist through the window. The sudden opening let in a billow of water, crashing into the room. The forced of the water let the water in with alarming rapidity.

***

Sawyer, who had taken his turn at the peephole, took a step back and gasped. "_Get going!"_ Quatermain said. "_Find Nemo, get the damn ship above water!"_ Sawyer, without a word to the others, ran.

***

Mina quickly looked inside, and saw that the room was already a foot deep under water. The crew figured out what was wrong when water sprayed out from underneath the door, and uncertain what Sawyer was doing, several of the crew followed him to find Nemo.

"Let me out!" Hyde called through the wall, "or the good doctor Henry will drown!"

"You brought this on yourself!" Mina called back. "And I want you dead!"

Would he die? Mina quickly started estimating. If the water continued at the rate it was going—already knee deep, then he had maybe another minute before the room was filled entirely. Water squeaked out the sides of the door.

***

Nemo had lingered in the kitchen long after he had any need to be there. Leaving to go anywhere but directly outside of the doorway would make him difficult to find, which could have disastrous consequences. But it would be unnecessary, and possibly dangerous to watch the proceedings, as to do so he would have cluttered up the hallways. He only hoped that his men had left as well, so that Jekyll would not know that anything was amiss.

When Sawyer came running into the room, he knew that something had gone wrong, and immediately stood up.

"He's broken the window and is flooding the room," Sawyer announced.

Nemo nodded. "I will raise the ship, you drain out as much water as you can without letting him out." Nemo was curious on Hyde's condition of being, but did not ask as he and Sawyer split to perform their duties.

***

A small amount of time was all that was needed for the water to started filtering through the peephole at eye level.

The crew seemed to be having some sort of argument. One half gestured to the drill and the door, clearly not wanting the being inside to drown. The other half showed sharp negation in their faces and showed gestures of violence and mayhem, presumably miming what would happen if he were let out. Mina didn't know a word of their language, and couldn't contribute. But…if they tried to let him out, she would stop them. Hyde was dangerous. Should the situation become fatal, Mina would rather him die than let him run amok on the ship.

The situation would almost certainly not turn fatal. Well, then, let him think he was about to die. Let him feel trapped and helpless. It's a pity that Jekyll would have to be terrified too, but Mina could not help that.

Sawyer appeared, running with an ax over his shoulder.

"You can't let him out," Mina said.

"I'm not," Sawyer said, and swung the ax at the door. With the strength and precision of two men, he swung below the metal which reinforced the top 2/3 of the door. The ax immediately puncturing a ragged hole at the bottom corner. Not nearly large enough to let anyone in or out, but water immediately poured out.

The ship tilted sharply upwards, and all of the water ran down to the back of the ship. One of the crewmen with the drill pulled the trigger, but no motion occurred. He dropped it and ran for a dry extension cord and drill. He plugged it in above where the water was, and prepared at the first indication to unscrew the braces against the door, to let out the man inside.

***

Inside of the room, Hyde treaded water, demanding a plan of action from Henry.

"_I'm maybe about to die,"_ Jekyll realized. _"Maybe it's okay. At least _he_ will die."_

_"Focus!" _Hyde snarled. "_Get us out of here."_

"_Apologize to Mrs. Harker."_

Hyde even considered the submission of apology. As he opened his mouth to do so, he could feel a change in the room. Although the window by now was entirely under water, Hyde could tell that the pressure of water inflow had slowed. He devised a new plan: to use the hole in the door to tear it open. He hadn't seen it yet, but if it had been made hastily, then it was probably ragged; perhaps a point to tear the door apart.

As the inflow pressure stopped entirely and the Nautilus surfaced, the de-transformation began. There was a moment of rage from Hyde, but he could do nothing about it. Water poured out the window and through the door as Hyde stopped treading water, and Jekyll writhed under the water, feeling his mind surfacing, feeling himself regaining control. When he was himself again, he stood up. The water had sunk to knee level, and he stood up so naturally, only hindered by the weight of the water in his clothing. No more chains. No more Hyde. Jekyll's body was his own again.

He heard the whirring of the drills outside, and a few clangs as the metal reinforcements dropped. He looked around: the room was a mess, and his clothing had not fared well. Nonetheless, he was alive, and now everyone knew he was well again.

The door opened, and some of the water spilled out, but most of it was either already gone or had pooled in a corner. Sawyer entered the room first, followed closely by Nemo.

"Doctor Jekyll," Nemo began. "I quite apologize for—"

"I understand," Jekyll said shortly. "You had to be sure." He glanced to the mirror on the side wall…it had miraculously been spared in Hyde's rampage. His alter ego lurked there, but said nothing.

"Oh god, Hyde…" Jekyll started, suddenly realizing himself. "Is Skinner okay? Is…is Mina…?"

Mina had lingered outside the doorway with the crew, but at the mention of her name, walked away. She wasn't ready yet.


	23. Chapter 22—The Kitchen

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO—The Kitchen

It really wasn't much of a kitchen.

Skinner had seen the one downstairs; now _that_ was a kitchen. A large fire burned perpetually, the crewmen constantly worked the ovens and various other applications, and absolute _mountains_ of food were stored. The kitchen Skinner had chosen was more or less an afterthought, a place to store food items, prepared or mostly prepared for the convenience of anyone wishing for a quick meal or light snack. But it was quiet, no one went in there, and it was well stocked with many different kinds of alcohol.

Skinner stared out the window as he sipped at his beer. Reconstruction of the medical room had not finished, and so the Nautilus cautiously found a safe place in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean to surface for a few days. All of the porthole windows had been opened, and even the deepest rooms in the bowels of the ship experienced fresh air.

He heard a noise behind him; the door opened.

"Well, 'ello Mina, I—"

"Get out," Mina said. "Please." Skinner almost, automatically responded with a retort before catching himself. He definitely owed Mina a favor, and if she wanted him out…he left. Mina passed him going in, and was relieved to see he hadn't drunk it all. Plenty of alcohol was left.

Mina had been drunk before, a scant few times in the privacy of her own home. She had never been drunk since she had become a vampire, and for the first time since then felt the urge to see if it was even possible.

Half an hour passed before she realized that, no, it wasn't possible. She drank…her body healed itself. It was just like drinking flavored water. Mina longed to just pass out.

She had avoided Jekyll at meals. In fact, she had avoided everybody, all the time. She read quietly in the library or jotted notes in her room. She wondered if the others had noticed her seclusion at all.

Skinner had his broken toe set and bandaged, presumably by Jekyll, and was actually resting most of the time. His drinking today was, surprisingly, the exception instead of the rule.

The other three men were a mystery as to how they spent their time. For Nemo, this was usual. For Sawyer, this was unusual, but Mina didn't pursue it. And for Jekyll, she only didn't know because she didn't want to.

She had planned furiously in her mind how to talk to him, but would not let him approach her. He had tried, once, but she had quickly slipped away, fading into the shadows. She didn't know if he would try again if he had the chance; she never let such an opportunity present itself.

Mina glanced out the window, unknowingly taking almost the exact position that Skinner had been in when she had kicked him out. She noticed the light smell of salt; the caws of the seagulls and steady lap of waves were constantly audible…

But there was another sound. Mina tuned into it. There was muttering, and it was on the top deck, almost directly above her. Pacing…was it perhaps Sawyer? There was a loud crash, followed by a red liquid and broken glass falling in front of the window.

"Never again," she heard Jekyll say. "Never again, never again." Another crash, more falling formula. "I never would have—you bastard—"

He was right above her. It was the encouragement that she needed. She left the kitchen, aware of the alcohol on her breath, but she was still entirely sober. The room remained empty, but soon enough their voices was audible through the open window of the kitchen.

"Mrs. Harker," Jekyll said nervously.

"Dr. Jekyll," she responded.

A moment of silence ensued.

"Mrs. Harker…Mina…what Hyde did to you was…inexcusable. That—I mean—what I—"Jekyll took a deep breath. "I'm deeply sorry for what Hyde has done to you."

"Is _he_ sorry?"

"Please don't—"

"I want to know," she replied insistently.

"I can't say that he is," Jekyll replied slowly, "but I can't say that he would do it again, either. He's…" Jekyll seemed to struggle for words. "I think that he wishes that he hadn't. For the sake of simplicity, if nothing else. He never intended to hurt you."

"Never intended to—!"

"He was trying to hurt _me,_" Jekyll said. "He knew I…had…feelings…for you."

"Don't tell me he overlooked how it would affect me," Mina snarled. "I know that he was _smart._"

"He…he knew, but it didn't seem…" he mumbled his last word.

"He what?"

"He didn't think it was important. He just saw it as another factor, but it wasn't aimed at you."

Jekyll was silent.

Mina was silent.

"It doesn't make it any better," Jekyll said. "He's a monster. We all knew that…but do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No."

"He knows that his best bet is in this League, and he wouldn't have done it to someone who wouldn't have recovered. He…thought you could handle it."

"I wish to speak to him."

"Mina, even if there was a chance in _hell_ I will ever allow him to use me again," the point was emphasized with the breaking of more glass and more formula falling into the ocean, "I don't think it will help."

"Perhaps you're right," Mina said reluctantly, after a long pause. Her speech was too followed by a long pause.

The sound of the door shutting followed. A minute later, Mina entered the kitchen again, grabbed a bottle of vodka, and resolved to try and get drunk in her room. Just before she left, she heard a surprisingly violent cry of frustration from the deck above, and saw the entire box of formula falling, splashing into the water.


	24. Chapter 23—Top Deck

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE—Top Deck

"I've already told you how I feel about grave-robbing," Sawyer mumbled.

"_You're not stealing anything,"_ Quatermain interjected._ "You have my permission. Why is this a problem?"_

"It's like…what if someone sees?"

"_And how did you think you were going to pull me out of my grave, exactly? Magic?"_

"I didn't imagine digging."

Sawyer leaned over the railing, and watched the sun as it crept over the horizon, creating a dazzling display over the empty palate of water and air. The _Nautilus_ cut a path through the water in the crisp morning air.

Skinner limped out on deck, but froze when he heard a voice. He'd almost walked in on Mina and Jekyll's altercation the day previous, and that would have been awkward. Being careful to not fall over his crutch or make any sound, he held his trench coat back and leaned around the corner to see who was there. Glad at least that his burns had healed enough to not cause problems, he saw only Sawyer there, watching the sunrise.

Skinner considered Sawyer's actions: seclusion and talking to a dead man. Perfectly normal, especially since no one else in the League had really been talking much to each other, too busy with the aftermath of Hyde. Mainly physical reconstruction of the medical room and the drenched rooms around it, but then there was Jekyll—

Sawyer turned slightly, and Skinner instinctively ducked back behind his corner. "Oh, bugger this," he said quietly, and limped out on to deck to join Sawyer and Quatermain.

"'ello Tom," Skinner greeted. "An' Allan."

"Hello, Skinner," Sawyer said amiably. "Hey, you've got your trench coat back."

"Yeah, turns out all I needed was a bit of rest 'n my burns healed right up."

"Imagine that," Sawyer said, a grin playing at his lips. "Jekyll knew what he was talking about."

"Yeah. Doesn' seem to think it applies to 'imself, though."

"What do you mean?"

"'e feels responsible for the whole bloody mess. 'e's working harder than the crew to set things right again."

"Isn't he still sick?" Sawyer asked.

"I dunno," Skinner said. "'e seems fine. Said somefin about how Hyde pushed the disease to start faster, so it ended faster, too."

"Sometimes, I think Jekyll has no idea what his formula does himself. Makes it all up."

Both men watched the sun rise, not talking, but at least enjoying not being alone. Skinner reflected on how Jekyll had nearly had a meltdown when he saw what Hyde had done to Skinner with his cane.

"_Here, it's here," _Quatermain spoke up urgently.

"Here?" Sawyer asked, perking up.

"Wot's goin' on?" Skinner asked.

"_I thought it was much further…no, that island, this has to be it."_

The _Nautilus_ sped quickly by the island.

"Get Nemo to stop the boat," Sawyer said, and ripped off his coat and took off his shoes.

"You're not going to—"

Skinner took a running start, balanced gracefully on the rail for a split-second, and dove off the edge.

"Sawyer!" Rodney yelled over the side. He cursed under his breath and limped down the stairs to find Nemo.

***

**I apologize for the late update, readers…but classes seem to have consumed my life for a period of time. I cannot promise punctuality in the future (the next update will almost certainly be late), but this story is rapidly drawing towards its end, and you will not have to put up with my shenanigans much longer.**


	25. Chapter 24—Alan Quatermain

**Dear readers:**

**I would apologize for the inexcusably late update, but as these are the last two chapters that I am posting, I figure it pointless. There will never be another late update. I hope that you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have in writing it. **

**Without further ado, here are the last of my story.**

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—Alan Quatermain

Where was that boy? The dark and quiet of the coffin had obscured what was left of Quatermain's sense of time. It had been a long time since Sawyer had come for him, yet still Allan sat in his coffin, needing only a breath of fresh air to be reanimated. He supposed that he could reach out to Sawyer again with his mind, but that took time…and if he was dug up during that time, he didn't know what would happen. The powers of the otherworld were denied to the living.

He had stopped shifting between his body and Sawyers after a few days, finding it easier to take semi-permanent residency within Sawyer. He'd expected a comment from Sawyer about how his head wasn't a hotel, but Sawyer hadn't seemed to mind. His optimism was unshakeable, and he avoided the others for the sole purpose of speaking with Quatermain. In a bizarre way, Sawyer seemed to understand how lonely death was.

And now, here he lay: the great Allan Quatermain, dead in a grave…but not dead. Just in a hole. Most annoying.

Finally, the sound of scraping earth was heard. He'd been buried deep, but if he could hear it by now, then they must have been close.

"Stop this, Sawyer," a voice said, somewhat muffled through the coffin, but clearly belonged to Mina.

"Just hang on a minute," Sawyer replied, surprisingly close.

"He's dead," she said harshly. "You need to move on."

More footsteps approached.

"Almos' there, Tom?" Skinner inquired. "I would 'elp you, but, you know."

Quatermain remembered Skinner's condition well, and wondered how he'd made it this far inland on a crutch. The steady sound of Sawyer's shovel was joined by another shovel. Allan speculated that it was Nemo who had jumped down to help. It obviously wasn't Mina, who had either fallen silent or walked off, and Jekyll…well…

"_Too much of a wimp,"_ he thought candidly.

Time passed slowly, and the steady sound of shovels faded into a melancholy rhythm. Then finally:

"Alright, let's get this thing out," Sawyer said. A sound was heard as both men outside scrambled up the sides, and Quatermain could feel his coffin raising out of the ground. It was opened.

Alan took a breath of air and sat up quickly. Mina, who had stood away from the group but not stopped watching, stifled a scream. Quatermain coughed several times, shook his head to clear it (dust and dirt were shaken from his hair), and cleared his throat.

"What'd I miss?" he asked hoarsely.

"Not a thing," Sawyer said, beaming. Although he was soaked with water and sweat and covered in dirt, he hugged Quatermain. Behind Sawyer, he saw Nemo, who was impeccably clean. A bit surprised, he looked at Skinner, still partially bandaged and on a crutch. Then at Jekyll, who was covered in dirt and sweat. Only the faintest traces of mosquito-bite scars left any indication of his ordeal.

So, then, it had been Jekyll who had helped dig him up.

"Shall we go then?" Nemo asked. He didn't seem phased by the miracle of reanimation.

"Well, good tah see you, too," Quatermain replied gruffly. He barely managed to spit out the words; his throat was dry and scratchy.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen walked away from the now-empty hole in the ground, and walked away. Quatermain had thought that he would walk with Sawyer on the way back to the ship, but the two had talked so much and been so close in the past few days that very little was left to say. Mina, instead, walked with him. There was a strained silence for a minute, before Mina spoke abruptly.

"What was it like?" she asked.

"What was what like?"

"Death."

Quatermain realized that his question would come up, and had wondered if it would come from the immortal. "I don't know," he replied. "I wasn't dead."

"You were in that coffin for over a month."

"I wasn't dead."

Mina seemed disappointed, but walked a bit faster until she was no longer walking with him.

So Quatermain walked alone until he got to the ship. He wanted to be alive again…he would eat and sleep, take a shower, and then get back up to the top deck and shoot a few rounds.


	26. Epilouge—Nemo’s room

EPILOUGE—Nemo's room

"Mina, please, can't we just have a civil conversation?" Jekyll asked pleadingly from the hallway.

"I've tried that, Doctor Jekyll. Leave me alone."

The composed sound of walking off was definitely Mina's.

"_I_ didn't touch you," Jekyll protested, his voice lowering as the footsteps drew further and further away. "It was him." Mina's steps did not slow, and quickly faded. Jekyll, however, lingered outside of Nemo's room. Nemo listened.

"No, shut up, shut up," Jekyll said quietly to himself. A loud thump was heard, and a somewhat raspy breathing. Nemo knew that it was time to intervene. He opened the door and saw Jekyll slumped over in the hallway.

"Doctor Jekyll, would you come inside?" Nemo asked. Jekyll looked up, and then slowly got to his feet. His asphyxiation had stopped entirely, as though Hyde were curious, too. Jekyll uncertainly entered the room.

Jekyll had not been inside of Nemo's room before, and found himself surprised by the design. Given the intricacies and richness of the rest of the ship, he'd expected a room of solid gold…or something of equal intricacy. But it was barren, having only basic necessities, and a few duplicates of the instruments that were present at the steering deck.

"If you wish to make peace with Mrs. Harker, you must first make peace with yourself," Nemo said. "Tell me, have you meditated before?"

Jekyll shook his head slowly, feeling a strange tide of emotions: curiosity, apprehension, confusion.

"_Meditating,"_ Hyde snorted dismissively. "_Really Henry? Really? This is your plan?"_

"Do you wish to regain a semblance of control in your life?" Nemo asked pointedly.

"Yes," Jekyll said.

"Take a seat." Nemo gestured towards the floor and sitting there, cross-legged himself. "The point of this exercise is to clear you mind. Attempt to control all thought."

"I can't do that," Jekyll frowned as he sat down across from Nemo. "He's always talking to me."

"Everyone has an inane voice speaking to them," Nemo said. "Do not respond, let it talk, and try to block it out. Find a positive word, repeat it in your mind."

Nemo took a meditating position and closed his eyes. A moment later, he heard light shuffling as Jekyll emulated his example. As the shuffling stopped, Nemo squinted open an eye, and saw how Jekyll looked.

"Arms go here," Nemo said, readjusting Jekyll's arms slightly. Jekyll nodded, and silence fell. At least, silence fell between Jekyll and Nemo.

"_What are you doing?" _Hyde asked. "_You think you can get me to stop talking?"_

Jekyll did not respond in words, but Hyde could feel his emotions still responding, a positive, hopeful yes.

"_Get up, let's do something,"_ Hyde said. "_Let me out."_

This usually elicited a strong response, especially after recent events. He felt the start of the emotion, and then it being cut off. This time, he got nothing verbal. No response, not a "shut up" or a plea for silence.

"_Come on,"_ Hyde said. "_Get up. Do something."_

Nothing. Hyde started to feel like he was talking to a brick wall. Frustrated, he reached for Jekyll's breathing centers. At last, Jekyll responded, but not to Hyde.

"He's…choking me…" Jekyll said aloud to Nemo.

"Everyone has difficulty with their breathing," Nemo said without opening his eyes. "Focus on it, center yourself, and don't give in. You must ignore him."

Jekyll closed his eyes again, and focused only on his breathing, even as it grew shorter and shorter. He began to feel light-headed, but tried to keep his breathing regular. He was shocked to find his breaths lengthening, then returning to normal.

"_You know what I would do if I was out?"_ Hyde asked. No response. "_Henry."_ Nothing. "_Henry, you know what I would do?" _ He couldn't even feel frustration. "_You know what I would do to Mina?"_

There was a second of fury before it was pushed aside to annoyance, but it was all the motivation Hyde needed to continue with graphic descriptions. Jekyll stewed in silent anger, but he made no move to get up, made no response to Hyde verbally. After five minutes of that, Hyde grew impatient. He didn't care one way or another about Harker, all he wanted was to be let out…and if he couldn't have that, he at least wanted a reprieve from boredom. Here, he got neither.

Hyde redoubled his efforts as Jekyll realized, for the first time, that all Hyde was looking for was a response of some kind.

Ten minutes later, Hyde fell silent, and realized that for however long Jekyll was going to be there, meditating, Hyde would have to accept being ignored. This thought caused him to rage against Jekyll, no longer trying to elicit a response from Jekyll, but a flat-out line of yelling.

"_You can't control me! You are weak!"_

_"You're the one who's shouting,"_ Jekyll replied, and Hyde could feel his smugness.

"_Oh, look at who came back." _

But Jekyll was back to saying nothing again. There was a struggle to keep his emotions and mind clear, but certain smugness pervaded.

"_I live inside you!"_ Hyde raged._ "I will always be here! I will kill and the blood will be on your hands! I'll drag you to the pits of hell! I'll live on in your body long after you die, and they won't be able to tell you and I apart!" _Hyde had given up trying to needle Henry, and had dove directly into what Jekyll feared most.

And Jekyll gave him…nothing. Hyde started to panic, remembering how important it was to stay dominant—his driving force behind most of his actions for the past week. Everything he was working for had slipped away.

Hyde attacked Jekyll physically again, slowing his breathing, giving Jekyll a pounding headache. This elicited a satisfying "_Enough, enough!"_

"Dr. Jekyll, is that your mantra?" Nemo asked, and Jekyll and Hyde stopped their struggle like bickering children would look up as a parent enters the room. The two simultaneously realized that Jekyll had spoken aloud. But Nemo asked his question in such a deadpan way that it was not immediately clear if his statement was intended to be humorous or not.

"You are in a state of Ksipta," Nemo said. "You must stop your racing mind and find silence."

Jekyll started meditating again, and didn't open his eyes, didn't stand up to get the medication, which never helped anyways. After a few more minutes of sustained effort, Hyde just gave up. Like an exhausted lunatic who had spent the night thrashing in his straitjacket, he finally gave up and accepted defeat. Hyde was quiet, and let Jekyll have a few minutes in peace.

Jekyll had found his word, and repeated it over and over again. "_Peace…"_ he thought.

"_Piece of what?" _Hyde replied.

The remark actually struck Jekyll as somewhat funny, and couldn't help but smile.

"_Come on, knock off this nonsense,"_ Hyde said. "Do_ something."_

Jekyll did not respond, and Hyde quieted. Fifteen minutes passed in complete silence.

"How do you feel?" Nemo asked quietly.

"Peaceful," Jekyll answered.

"And Hyde?"

"He's quieted down some."

"You have more power than you think over him," Nemo said. This response fueled Hyde's rage, and a moment later Jekyll was slumped against the wall again, struggling for breath. "See how he tries to hide it from you."

"_I _do_ have power over you!" _Hyde protested as he broke off from strangling Jekyll. "_You are nothing!"_

Nemo's affirmation of Jekyll's strength had a powerful affect on the doctor. He could ignore Hyde, and today was perhaps the first time his own will had triumphed over Hyde.

"Nemo, may I ask you a question?" Jekyll asked.

"Certainly."

"Why haven't you kicked me off the ship for the things he did?"

Nemo considered the question for several moments before answering. "To the League, both of you are needed, but either of you or Hyde is useless without the other." Jekyll internally winced at the words. "But as a man and captain, I have allowed many a rouge and scoundrel stay on the ship, so long as the desist in their actions. We were unprepared for such an outburst from Hyde, but that was no one's fault. We now know how to prepare and deal with future illnesses, should you get sick again. And, of course, the rest of the League and I have taken a liking to you."

Jekyll felt himself grow happier, even a bit unburdened.

"Except, of course, for Mina," Nemo continued, and Jekyll felt the full weight of his sin crashing on his shoulders again. "But you must not blame her, and give her time to come to her senses."

"Thank you, Captain Nemo," Jekyll said. Nemo nodded, and Jekyll took his leave, not quite ready yet to make amends and rejoin the world at large, but he was getting there.


End file.
